(ANSA) Venice, January 19 - Scores of fishermen anchored in front of the offices of the lagoon city's harbourmaster Monday as a national protest mushroomed over tough EU rules restricting the fishing of clams, port officials said.
The 'vongolari' in particular are outraged over the Brussels norms imposing zero tolerance and criminal charges on the size of the fisherfolk's catches, meaning that anyone fishing clams under the minimum permitted size will lose their license after three infractions.
"All you need is for one clam in a million to be found measuring below 2.5cm to incur a fine of 4,000 euros," said Marco Boscolo, one of the protesters, "we are waiting for the minister's answer to restore the percentage of under-sized vongole allowed, provide for sanctions to be civil not criminal and take the limit down to at least 2.3cm seeing as already at 2cm the clam is adult and therefore can reproduce".
"This is all the more so given that clams of 1.7cm are being imported from Turkey. Lastly we ask that the limit of 0.3 miles from the coast be abolished since the clams live and proliferate especially in the shallows".
Boscolo's requests were echoed by the self-employed fishermen's union Coldiretti impresapesca, which warned that the EU norms threaten to damage severely a fishing industry sector that is among the most environmentally eco-compatible. Farm Minister Maurizio Martina agreed to hear the fishermen's grievances on January 27.
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