Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

Fishermen caught in crisis

• Mark Mardell
• 9 Jul 08, 11:30 AM

A Coruna, Spain.

The rough yet nimble fingers of the crew of The New Hunter work a speedy rhythm, darning their maroon nets by the side of their boat, moored in one of Spain's biggest ports. They must be tired. They have been out all night fishing the seas around the extreme North West of Spain. The skippers show me their fine catch still on the boat, packed in boxes of ice. It's mainly sardines, but there's a large sharp-toothed hake and a squid which stains my hands black as I pick it up. I'm told the latter tastes better if beaten against the rocks 16 times by a virgin. There are no volunteers.

But although the night's fishing is done, work isn't over. They now stand in the blazing heat mending their nets. The owner of The New Hunter, Manuel Dominguez, says it didn't used to be like this. He used to make enough money to employ people to mend the nets, but now he can't afford that luxury. Thirty years in the business, and it has come to this. Just a few weeks back there were here, and all over Spain. Now there seems there's no anger left, just resignation. The price of diesel is so high, the price of fish is so low. It's the end of an industry, he says, it's so sad... so sad.

I'm in Spain filming a report for Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Newsnight on EU energy policy. It'll take much of the rest of this month, on and off, so my blogging is going to be a bit more of a snapshot than usual, as I am not yet sure how it will all tie together.

Those dramatic protests in Italy, Spain, France and the UK seem to have just faded away, while the cause of the grievance, mainly the , has of course remained.

One man tells me it's not over yet, and the protest movement will build again. A truck stop in the middle of nowhere seems an odd place to plan a revolution, or even a nationwide protest. On the Esmeralda Road, about 80km (50 miles) from the port, two motorways meet. There is a garage with diesel pumps, a little bar and grill, and a place to wash lorries and service them, and for truck drivers to stay overnight.

That is where we find Antonio Llanos. A brimmed hat perched on his head, stripped down to denim dungarees in the heat, he sits behind his desk in a tiny portakabin, sandwiched between the Hostel Ruta Esmeralda and the bar. He pulls a T-shirt on when we arrive. His computer is none too modern, but the piles of papers and leaflets suggest a tight organisation. He is a regional organiser of the Platform for the Defence of the Transport Sector. It's from here, he says, that Spain was brought to a near-standstill in the recent protests. How did he do it? "New technology, e-mail, sms, mobile phones, bluetooth." But old technology, too. He said their growing plans "spread by word of mouth - sitting down over lunch, drivers decided that they had had enough".

While I want to talk about fuel prices, he is more concerned about big corporations, which he claims are undercutting the minimum wage and employing drivers on the cheap. He says the unions are no good because they protect workers, but truckers are business people. "We got nothing out of it," he admits. But he predicts that there will be more protests in September, with the threat of the breakdown of law and order. After the filmed interview we're talking about Spanish politicians and it's clear he doesn't have time for any of them. He says platforms like his will spring up all over Europe, to defend ordinary people.

I tend to think the protests were an example of political bushfires that spring up and disappear, never to return. I might be wrong. If I am, I'll remember the garage on the Esmeralda Road, where it all started.

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