Italy mulls temporary fishing halt over fuel costs

VERONA, Italy (Reuters) - Italy is mulling a temporary halt to fishing and other measures to help resolve a crisis in the sector caused by rising fuel costs, Agriculture Minister Luca Zaia said on Monday.

Italian fishermen may also be offered incentives to retire or take older boats out of service, said Zaia. He will meet on Tuesday with six other European Union fisheries ministers to seek ways to help fishermen struggling with rising fuel costs.

"We want to intervene in terms of a temporary halt," Zaia told reporters on the margins of a meeting with fishing industry representatives.

French fishermen fighting for cheaper fuel have recently blockaded ports, disrupted traffic on land and sea, and blocked the fuel depot of France's largest oil refinery. Italian fishermen have also staged strikes.

Zaia said the government may offer to pay fishermen to keep their boats in port for a set number of days.

Another proposal would involve incentives to retire obsolete fishing vessels. Italy has about 14,000 fishing boats -- twice the number in France -- with an average age of 28 years.

Fisheries ministers from France, Spain, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia and Malta will attend Tuesday's meeting in Venice. They will present their proposals at a full EU ministerial meeting on June 23-24 in Luxembourg.

France said last month it was drafting a proposal that would raise the amount of financial aid that an EU government may grant to its fisheries sector.

(Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Catherine Evans)