Italian fishing fleets halt in ports from Ancona to Termoli over diesel prices

Boats tied up along the Adriatic

Fishing boats stopped in several Italian ports on 22 October 2026 to protest diesel prices. The action began in the Adriatic and spread along the coast, and Confcooperative Agroalimentare e Pesca mapped halts in the fleets of Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Marche and Molise. The confederation said fuel accounts for more than 60% of operating costs in some cases and asked for emergency measures at that day's cabinet meeting. In Pescara the whole local fleet was moored at the quay, while crews in Emilia-Romagna struck at Cesenatico, Goro and Comacchio. Banners in Cesenatico protested against wars and the costs they bring for fishers.

Diesel prices and the cost of a trip

Crews cited different diesel prices, each tied to their own port. In Termoli, Paola Marinucci, president of the Molise shipowners association, put diesel at 1.40 euro a litre. In Pescara, Doriano Camplone, president of the Associazione Pesca Professionale Mimmo Grosso, cited 1.17 euro a litre. Ancona's producers' cooperative said its boats pay between 1.15 and 1.20 euro, against an Italian average of around 1.30 euro, and that a litre cost about 0.65 euro a year earlier. In Manfredonia, Domenico Carpano said a small boat paid about 4,000 euro to refuel every six days before the war and now pays about 8,000 euro, while a large boat needs about 13,000 euro per six days. He said the port has about 300 people and 140 boats. Marinucci said the Termoli stoppage lasted until 30 September and that the fleet has since managed only six and a half days at sea.

Aid promises and the ten-point letter

Termoli's fleet sent a letter with ten points to the Masaf and the Molise region. Its leading requests are an extension of the tax credit to 31 December, changes to the criteria of the Iran aid call for fishing businesses, and an urgent round table. Ancona's cooperative said Masaf promised at a meeting on 20 October that aid under law 568 would arrive in two tranches, the first from November, and that the Marche region should start paying part of it by mid-November. Abruzzo's fisheries assessor, Emanuele Imprudente, said 3 million euro is available under a measure linked to Iran, applications have been filed, and funds should reach shipowners' accounts by late November.

We are doing our utmost.

Imprudente said the region is in constant contact with the Conference of Regions and the government. Camplone, however, argued that Masaf had acted quickly but that its measures had not become concrete aid, and that regional tax credit calls left firms and crews with only losses.

Warnings of wider action

Camplone said the Pescara boats were ready to escalate if no answer came from the government.

The mobilisation today is a way of saying we are ready to move from a peaceful stoppage to bigger strikes.

The Ancona cooperative's president, Apollinare Lazzari, said nearly all Italian fleets were stopped, with the exception of a few boats, and that most had signed the document sent to the ministry on 22 September. An Ancona shipowner said his boat employs eight people and that he would have to lay off two if the situation continued, since no wage support was yet available. Lazzari added that the cooperative is still waiting for payment of the 2025 biological stoppage.