The chief masters of the Fishermen's Associations of Lanzarote and La Graciosa have denounced that the fishing boats of these islands cannot go out to fish due to the "lack of revision" of the medicine cabinets by the Health Department of the Social Marine Institute and that there is no "health personnel" fixed on the island. "Only a doctor comes from time to time to carry out medicine cabinet revisions and medical examinations," they have pointed out.
According to what they have explained to La Voz from the fishermen's associations, the Maritime Captaincy has to give the go-ahead to the boats so that they can go out to fish. One of the requirements is that these medicine cabinets are checked. However, "the day they come they only check three medicine cabinets or only recognize six people."
For the fishermen's associations, this is "totally insufficient" to cover the needs of these islands, since the waiting list exceeds two months. "The lack of dispatch of a vessel forces it to remain moored in port without being able to go out to sea and, therefore, without being able to obtain any income," they have criticized.
If this problem cannot be solved "immediately", the fishermen's associations warn that the shipowners would be forced to discharge "due to force majeure" the crew members of the affected vessels and "send them to the unemployment office". "It would be impossible for the shipowner to be able to maintain personnel and Social Security expenses," they insisted through a statement.
Lack of health personnel
For all these reasons, the fishermen's associations have requested that the requests for revision of the medicine cabinets be registered in the computer application in such a way that "it does not appear as a critical alert", so that the Maritime Captaincy can proceed to dispatch the fishing boats.
In addition, they have requested a six-month extension to be able to pass the medicine cabinet revisions, since "on many occasions it is not the fault of the shipowner, but of the Social Marine Institute for lacking sufficient health personnel to cover the needs of the island."
They have also demanded a "fixed" doctor on the island at least three days a week so that he can carry out the medicine cabinet revisions and medical examinations of the crew members. "The census of people registered in the special sea regime on the island of Lanzarote and La Graciosa is more than enough to have permanent staff," they insisted from the fishermen's associations.
