Shahrvand newspaper writes about sailors protesting the ban on boat imports. Shahrvand estimates the value of boat imports at 1 billion dollars per year. Illegal imports entering the country are valued at 20 billion dollars each year. Until 2006, each sailor was allowed to import goods up to four times a year. During the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he removed the import limitations for sailors. Hassan Rouhani’s government is set on controlling these imports. Based on new regulations, each sailor can import goods without paying taxes up to 6 times and valued at 10 million tomans each time. Sailors however say that in the past three months these imports have been entirely banned. (Perhaps because all sailors have already used all of their quota?) There are 2300 barges in the province of Bushehr and a total of 50 thousand people make a living via imports via boats. The article adds that a lack of control over these imports can lead to trafficking. Furthermore compared to a simple worker in the capital, a sailor in the south having an annual 60 million toman tax cut does not seem fair.