once again it's been a successful
fishing trip
despite the risks boxes upon boxes are
unloaded from the trawler and carefully
registered
the men are happy with the catch
especially with this delicacy
these are famous prime quality red
prawns
they don't come any larger the
mediterranean prawns are in great demand
in fine restaurants around
the world
in good times we earn 550 euro for a 12
kilo carton of prime quality red prawns
that works out as 45 euro per kilo
aboard this ship
the fishermen from mazara del vallo
spend weeks out at sea for such a catch
sometimes even up to two months but
they're taking a big risk
the richest fishing grounds in the
southern mediterranean are off the
libyan coast
in international waters but libya now
claims them as territorial waters
this has caused repeated conflicts like
in the summer of 2018
the libyan navy wanted to stop the
italian fishermen
and arrest the entire crew
in september that's exactly what
happened to marco moroney
his two trawlers were impounded by libya
the ship owner is in despair his 18 crew
members have been in a benghazi jail for
over three months fishermen have never
been held this long
not being able to see the ships the men
who work for me
that is awful it's like a sun that you
miss
who you can no longer hug
during that confrontation libyan
authorities pursued nine italian
trawlers on the open sea
unlike some of his colleagues captain
giuseppe giaccalone managed to get away
the libyans came close wanted to seize
all the captains and the ship papers
the trawlers were told to follow them
but we could flee
risking our lives the coast guard is
armed
they could have
back in 2018 the fishermen received help
italy sent a naval helicopter to aid the
trawlers
libyan speed boat was forced to back off
but now italy no longer provides such
protection in the southern mediterranean
off the libyan coast telling fishermen
such operations are too demanding and
politically sensitive
now they fish at their own peril
but we need protection so we can fish in
these international waters
otherwise what happened to the fishermen
will happen again
the ship owner has even spent two months
protesting outside the italian
parliament in rome
calling for his crew and fish trawlers
to be released
we are at risk of being arrested 74
nautical miles off the coast
because libya claims the open sea as its
territorial waters
europe and italy must take action
against this because this sea belongs to
nobody alone
it belongs to us all
that includes crew members like muhammad
he is one of six tunisians who worked on
the italian trawlers
who are now in jail in benghazi
muhammad's family is worried about him
in the past he was already arrested
twice by libya
but this time it's worse
in the past we were always in contact we
knew how he was doing
his phone always works this time we've
not heard from him in months
we have no idea what is going on or even
if he is still alive
whenever she can mohammed's daughter
nores meets the families of other
detained fishermen at the port of mazara
here they staged protests with ship
owner marco marone to give each other
hope
we're fighting for 18 italian fishermen
that includes six tunisians
two senegalese and two indonesians
all of them have lived here in masada
for many years
some of them even before i was born
the families have no choice the hunt for
the
lucrative red prawns must go on that is
the only thing that makes the fishing
industry in mazzara del vallo profitable
in international waters and that
includes off libya's coast
you