Call for moratorium on new fish farms

Nature Trust (Malta), the environmental NGO, has called for more control over fish farms and for a moratorium on new farms around the islands.

It said a clean sea was one of the pillars of Malta's tourism industry, which provides a livelihood for thousands.

"Malta should follow in the footsteps of Croatia, which closed all fish farms in order to have clean seas and attract tourists," it said.

The NGO was reacting to the proposals to have numerous foreign fish farms at Marsascala and to gather all fish farms in one area, with which it disagreed.

It said it sees as unsustainable the placing in Maltese waters of numerous cages from other countries, saying there was an excessive discrepancy between economic opportunity on the one side and environmental and social concerns on the other.

"Unsustainable industries like fish farms and pens are a danger to the long-term livelihood of the fishermen and their families and a hazard to fragile ecosystems," it said.

Nature Trust said the fish farming and fish penning industry have been accused over and over again of causing damage to the ecology of the marine beds underneath the cages and the surrounding marine habitats "due to massive amounts of fodder given to the fish, equivalent to the sewage of a small village".

But the government said that before one spoke on the environmental aspect of the site proposed for the fish farms, one should wait for the publication of the Environment Impact Assessment and the start of the public consultation process.

According to the process established by law, the EIA will be subjected to public consultation during which everyone would be able to comment.

The government added that the main aim behind the proposal to set up a zone including all the fish farms was that existing fish farms will also be moved and placed in the zone located six kilometres off the coast.

The fish farm industry had a positive economic impact that could not be ignored and therefore the government's aim was to find an acceptable balance between the proposed development and respect for the environment.

Contrary to the situation in other countries, there was not enough space in Malta to site the farms on land and therefore space had to be allocated at sea.

Finally, the government insisted that throughout the whole application process, maximum consideration will be given to environment protection.