€38 MILLION is to be made available by the Dutch government from this month to scrap about 20% of the country's beam trawling fleet.
Operators of sole and plaice beamers, who have been struggling to pay their way since fuel prices shot up, have now reached crisis point.
However, the ministry of agriculture, nature and food quality has ruled out fuel subsidies to assist owners.
The beam trawler fleet has already been severely reduced in its total horsepower due to beamers having been scrapped and a limit of 2000 hp per ship being enforced.
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