Tuna catches so far are about 50 per cent higher than last year's, Charlie Azzopardi, managing director of AJD Tuna Ltd, said yesterday.
There are about 62 Maltese tuna fishermen most of whom catch tuna by means of long lines. For the first time ever, this year one of the Maltese fishermen will be using a purse-seine net.
The basic difference between long lines and the purse-sein is that most of the tuna caught by the long lines are exported while the fish caught by the purse-seine are kept alive and transported to tuna pens where they are kept and exported out of season, when they fetch good prices.
AJD Tuna Ltd is contracted this year to buy all the tuna caught by Maltese fishermen and also all the tuna catches by the Italian fishermen who berth at Grand Harbour during the season, which extends between May 1 and mid-July.
Mr Azzopardi, who is also a director of Azzopardi Fisheries of St Paul's Bay, was contacted after the Ghaqda Ko-operattiva tas-Sajd Ltd issued a statement claiming that some Maltese fishermen had sustained considerable damage by one of the tugboats that pull the tuna pens along.
Mr Azzopardi said he had extremely good relations with the GhKS and the National Fisheries Co-operative Ltd.
AJD Tuna Ltd has signed contracts with the two co-operatives for the provision of three Maltese fishing boats to direct the tug boats that pull the tuna pens to the places where the tuna are caught by purse-seiners and therefore avoid damaging long lines.
Payment for these three boats reaches Lm58,000.
The company has also committed itself to putting up a fund of close to Lm60,000 to make good any damage caused to Maltese fishermen.
Ivan Portanier, public relations officer of the National Fisheries Co-operative, which represents 60 out of the 62 tuna fishermen, pointed out that none of its members had reported any damage by tug boats.
A member of the co-operative informed him that none of the other fishermen had reported any incident over their VHF radios.
Mr Portanier said he was aware that one of the three tuna pen owners, Fuentes (Mare Blu), had made its own arrangements to safeguard long lines. But he did not know whether the third tuna pen owner Fish & Fish had undertaken the same safety arrangements in this regard.
A large pen can cover a surface area as large as a football pitch. The tug boat moves at an extremely slow pace - about half a knot an hour and it is extremely easy for it to destroy the long lines used by Maltese fishermen. A long line (konz) can be 40 miles long, Mr Portanier added.
Azzopardi Fisheries manage the tuna pens off Qawra point and export tuna to Korea through the firm Jeong Pil Co. Ltd of Pusan, Korea. The Korean company is a partner in the tuna penning project off Qawra with Azzopardi Fisheries.
Tuna can grow up to 350 kilos. Long lines consist of between 1,500 hooks and 2,500 hooks baited either with mackerel or squid.