5 - 11 July 2001

Malta and Italy to establish proper procedures for tuna fishing

by Ivan Brincat

The Maltese and Italian governments have promised to do their utmost to establish a plan which would govern the way tuna fishing is carried out by Maltese and Italian fishermen, government sources have told The Malta Business Weekly. This is a result of last week’s bitter dispute between fishermen from the two countries over the ownership of a tuna pen in the high seas. “Both sides have promised to do their utmost to establish a plan for the modus operandi of this issue” a government source said.
Meanwhile, the National Fisheries Cooperative has – for the third time – called on Ninu Zammit, the minister of agriculture and fisheries, to resign because it has no faith in him.
The secretary general of the co-operative, Raymond Bugeja told The Malta Business Weekly that the government was not acting in the fishermens’ interest. However, government sources said that the minister had repeatedly asked the fishermen whether it would not be better to take the case to court, whereby the value of the fish in the cage would have been deposited and any dues to them guaranteed. The government sources confirmed that the disputed fish were just inside the economic fishing zone at circa 24.4 nautical miles but added that these were then purse seined outside the EFZ at circa 27.48 nautical miles. Although the so called “tuna wars” escalated late last week, the trouble had long been brewing.
Mr Bugeja said that the season started off on a bad note because of the way government acted after the cooperative awarded an export contract to the largest European company Fuentes.
Meanwhile, government sources confirmed that an independent investigation has been requested by the Commander of the Armed Forces of Malta into allegations that a Maltese fishing vessel was hit by AFM warning shots. Mr Bugeja said that the army personnel on the rubber dinghies approached the fishing vessels clad in balaclavas, which indicated that they wanted to remain unidentified, and also carried heavy weapons and grenades. These claims were denied by the government sources who said heavy weapons and grenades were not carried.