Fishermen temporarily abandon protest, schedule meeting with Joković

The National Association of Fish Producers announced that the announced protest by fishermen is being postponed until further notice because the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, Vladimir Joković, accepted their request to hold a meeting to try to resolve their problems.

Among other things, the fishermen are demanding greater support from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, ports for docking and mooring ships, loading and storing heavy equipment, a lower VAT rate of seven percent on the import of equipment and vessels, the establishment of a guarantee fund, with financial compensation of at least 10 percent of revenue from fees collected from cruisers and speedboats... They announced a protest blockade of the Bay of Kotor yesterday.

Joković announced yesterday that he would do everything to resolve the association's demands, that there is a lack of berths and infrastructure for landing fish, but that the protest does not contribute to a solution.

After Joković informed them that he had accepted their request and scheduled a meeting, the fishermen, as they say, agreed to give the ministry a chance to resolve all their problems peacefully, and are giving up the protest for now.

"The Minister stated in the media that protests deepen misunderstandings. We believe that this is not true and that protests can only resolve misunderstandings quickly, which has been proven in our case. We are here to always give a chance to an agreement, and you to accept all our suggestions for solving the problem. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the fishermen who wanted to come with their boats and ships (54 in total), all the fishermen who signed the petition (119 of them) from Herceg Novi to Ulcinj. We also thank the fishermen who boycotted us, and especially the people of Ulcinj who will ultimately use and enjoy all the resolved problems just like we do. We also thank Milun Anđić from Bar, the owner of the Trio Mare boat, who gossiped and belittled us on TV Vijesti in 'Colors of Morning', and by doing so he created the biggest 'advertisement' for himself.

"We would like to express our special thanks to the Commander of the Herceg Novi Police, Mr. Ljubiša Rovčanin, and the Head of the Border Police and the Maritime Unit, Dejan Janković. And most of all, we would like to thank all the media in Montenegro because they won this victory together with the fishermen," reads the statement signed by Marko Kise, President of the National Association of Fish Producers.

The fishermen expressed hope that Joković stands behind everything he announced in the media and that they will not have to organize another strike at sea. If no agreement is reached, they said that the protest could take place on September 21st.