AD questions tuna fattening practices

Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party has highlighted the risks of tuna farming in Maltese waters and called on EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg to put the health of citizens first.

The party said the World Wild Fund for Nature has already highlighted the dangers of exotic diseases and parasites in Maltese waters from the importation of frozen foreign fish used as food for the penned tuna.

"The huge extra capacity envisaged in the Maltese plans will no doubt increase the pressure on the wild stock. Prominent tuna scientists forecast the collapse of the Mediterranean (including East Atlantic) stock within very few years," AD said.

AD said the whole question of whether the practice of tuna fattening is appropriate - the species is depleted in the Mediterranean since it is still being too heavily fished - should be looked into.

"The majority of the fattened and slaughtered tuna doesn't even stay in the EU, since it goes to Japan for sashimi and sushi.

"Dr Borg would do well to ensure that the biodiversity of European seas, including Maltese waters, is safeguarded, rather than refusing to adopt a ban on the use of untreated imported fish in tuna farms, with the excuse that this would have severe consequences on the farming industry," Arnold Cassola, AD's European Affairs spokesman, said.

"Dr Borg should put the health of EU citizens before the interests of the fish farming industry."