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MANILA, Philippines—Many small fishermen may be compelled to abandon their motorized boats and quit fishing because of the skyrocketing fuel prices, a militant fisherfolk alliance said Sunday.

"With the soaring prices of regular gasoline, we are being pushed to spend more time, work double time and produce more money from fishing not for our families but for the oil companies. This is very, very unfair," Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a statement.

The seemingly unstoppable hikes in the prices of fuel have become an "across-the-nation nightmare" to small fishermen who use an average of 5 liters to 10 liters of regular gasoline every day, he said.

Pamalakaya said its study showed owners of 177,627 motorized small fishing boats who employ two to three fishermen could no longer bear the brunt of rising prices of petroleum products.

He said the situation may soon compel small boat owners either to reduce hours of fishing from an average of 8 to 12 hours to 4 to 8 hours or abandon their 4- to 16- horsepower motors and look for other jobs such as driving tricycles or doing carpentry or construction work. Jerome Aning

• Group warns of fish shortage
• BSP seen raising key interest rates
• More measures to address rising fuel costs eyed
• Malaysia plans direct fuel subsidies for buyers-paper
• Raw Nerves Worldwide
• Sharpest hike yet for fuel -- P1.50/liter
• Fish prices to rise due to successive fuel price hikes
• Changes to commodities regulations expected -- NYT
• Piston warns of June ‘action’

• Boracay land conflict boils over
• 5 dead in new landslide in Diwalwal
• Quezon town declares state of calamity
• Teenage girl dies fighting off molester
• Pangasinan bishop gives gov failing grad
• DSWD starts databank for the poor
• Baguio-Cotabato peace caravan kicks off
• Erap’s threat to run in 2010 downplayed
• Newsbriefs