Exactly the same thing is happening here, in Spain. Most of the owners couldn't pay the fuel of a, honestly, overpowered fishing fleet. And since the EU is giving money to scrap the boats, they kill two birds with one stone. The situation is more or less the same here.
There were such beautiful boats here, as in Greece. They were in my opinion art.

Unfortunately, in Greece things are even worse. Very few traditional yards have survived and to make things worse, Greeks are getting money from the EU to destroy their fishing vessels (not change their use, to actually destroy them and provide proof of destruction) so, many beautiful traditional Greek wooden fishing vessels have been destroyed...
A very, very sad sight to see.....

That's it Nektarios. 20-30 years ago, every town in Spanish mediterranean coast had it's own yard. Some towns had up to 5 yards!. Today, most of them have dissapeared...

Built 1984 at Garrucha 3,41 gt, registered at Santa Pola. More info here :
http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/fleet/index.cfm?method=Search.DetailSearchSimple&event_key=30846829&search_type=simple&search_id=4993
and here :
http://ec.europa.eu/fisheries/fleet/index.cfm?method=Search.ListSearchSimpleOneVessel&COUNTRY_CODE=ESP&CFR_CODE=ESP000013991&search_type=simple&search_id=4993

A traditional small wooden Mediterranean fishing vessel. With great seafaring qualities, these timeless boats will sail for ages...