Gozitan fishermen stage silent protest

Gozitan fishermen yesterday presented the Tunisian ambassador with a letter and photographs of some of the Tunisian vessels which they claim are being used in the theft of their fish and vandalism on their equipment.

The fishermen walked in a silent protest from near San Anton Gardens to the Tunisian embassy in Valletta Road, Attard carrying placards calling for action to be taken against Tunisian fishermen.

National Fisheries Cooperative secretary Raymond Bugeja said that yet again Gozitan fishermen had ended up as victims of the actions of Tunisian fishermen while they were fishing for lampuki 20 to 80 miles west of Malta.

There were some 20 Gozitan vessels fishing in the area, each carrying six to eight fishermen.

The Tunisians, he said, were netting fish from under the Gozitans' floats which they were then vandalising and setting adrift when each directional allotment, consisting of hundreds of floats, costs some Lm7,000 to lay in place.

There were also instances where the Tunisians were driving their boats directly at the Gozitan fishermen.

These incidents, Mr Bugeja said, had been going on for at least five years.

Mr Bugeja said the Tunisian ambassador promised the fishermen that action would be taken against the offenders. He informed them that investigations launched last year had not yet been officially concluded but the Tunisian fishermen involved had been warned their licence would be withdrawn if they continued to flout the law.

After speaking to the ambassador, officials from the cooperative went to the Foreign Ministry where they had a meeting with Foreign Minister Joe Borg.

Mr Bugeja said Dr Borg promised the fishermen he would do his utmost to offer them the protection they were requesting.

The minister, Mr Bugeja said, also promised to hold talks with the Tunisian ambassador next week to discuss the situation.

On October 26 last year, the Prime Minister had told fishermen that following discussions with his Tunisian counterpart, the issue had been resolved.

In a news conference last week, the fishermen requested military presence to assist them while they fished for lampuki.

They said yesterday that such assistance had not yet been forthcoming and claimed there were more incidents last week.

They warned that the situation could escalate if something was not done soon.

Fisheries Minister Ninu Zammit told parliament last Monday that the Maltese fishing authorities wrote to their counterparts in Tunisia suggesting how clashes between fishermen from the two countries could be avoided.

The letter was written by the director-general of fishing on August 23, but, unfortunately, there had not yet been a reply from Tunisia.

However, Mr Bugeja argued, the Fisheries Minister had not put any pressure on the Tunisian authorities to respond.

Mr Bugeja said the government was duty bound to protect its citizens wherever they were.

Asked whether he was satisfied with the outcome of the meetings yesterday, he said he would only be satisfied when action was taken.

He said the cooperative had given an ultimatum, which was still in force, to the government to find a diplomatic solution to the problem by the end of the month - or else fishermen would take matters into their owns hands.

The Gozitans, he said, were not against Tunisians having their own floats in international waters and they were willing to teach the Tunisians how to make their own.