The Fisheries Directorate has announced two public calls to compensate for increased operating costs, primarily due to the rising price of blue diesel. The first round covers the period from March to the end of August 2026.
Fishermen struggling with rising operating costs can now apply for state support. Two public calls aimed at compensating for price increases, primarily of blue diesel, whose price has risen due to the crisis in the Middle East, were published on the Fisheries Directorate's website on Wednesday, August 12. Subsidies are also available for vessels using gasoline.
The first call, funded from the state budget, targets smaller vessels up to 12 meters using passive gear, as well as beach seines and dredges up to 18 meters. The second call is implemented through the Fisheries and Aquaculture Programme of the Republic of Croatia, co-financed by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), and covers trawlers and purse seiners of all lengths, aquaculture, and the processing industry.
The key difference between the two calls lies in the scope of costs they cover. The first call compensates exclusively for the increase in fuel costs. The second, in addition to fuel, can also cover increases in energy, materials, raw materials, repairs, and other operating costs.
For the first call, a vessel must have had at least 40 recorded fishing days during 2025 and achieved a minimum value of sold catch of €8,000. For the second call, intended for trawlers and purse seiners, the threshold for the value of sold catch in 2025 is higher, at €10,000, with the same minimum of 40 fishing days.
It is important to note that fishermen do not choose the fleet segment they belong to. The Fisheries Directorate determines the segment based on vessel length, the dominant gear recorded during 2025, and data from official logbooks and catch reports.
The monthly subsidy amount for fishing vessels in both calls is calculated using a simple formula: the amount per fishing day for a specific fleet segment is multiplied by the number of recorded fishing days for the vessel in that month.
The daily amount is based on the average fuel cost for that vessel type in 2024 and the percentage by which the average price of blue diesel in a specific month of 2026 increased compared to the reference price from 2025. The reference price for blue diesel is set at €0.75 per liter excluding VAT. Specific daily amounts for individual segments will be published later, once data on average fuel prices for each month become available.
For the second call, the amount per fishing day includes two components: the estimated increase in material costs, calculated based on the average from 2023 and 2024, and the estimated increase in fuel costs. As an illustration, the Ministry provides a hypothetical example: if the usual fuel cost for a segment is €100 per day, and diesel in the observed month increases by 20 percent compared to the reference price, the compensation amounts to €20 per day. For a vessel with 12 fishing days in a month, the monthly subsidy would be €240.
For the first call, the maximum subsidy amount per beneficiary for the entire period from March 1 to December 31, 2026, is €50,000. If the same beneficiary has multiple vessels, the amount is calculated for each vessel individually, but the total sum of all payments must not exceed this limit.
Applications are submitted per beneficiary, meaning that an owner of multiple eligible vessels does not need to submit a separate application for each, but can cover them all with a single form. An exception is if the beneficiary simultaneously has a small vessel and a purse seiner or trawler, in that case, they use support measures from both calls.
The first round of both calls covers the period from March 1 to August 31, 2026. The application deadline is short: it started on August 8 and runs until August 31, 2026. Applications with the accompanying documentation should be sent by registered mail or submitted in person in a sealed envelope to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Fisheries Directorate, Ulica grada Vukovara 78, 10000 Zagreb.
