Reporting of fisheries data to the EU

With reference to the article Malta Fails EU Fishing Obligations (January 20), please note that the report issued by the European Union refers to 2004 when Malta had just acceded to the European Union. It must be pointed out that not all the electronic systems were developed or in place and this affected Malta's returns to the European Commission. It is a fact worth mentioning that the same report highlights that Malta is one of the few states that is totally in line with the fleet registration data.

The catch data could not be passed on as the connection with the FIDES system was not established until late 2005. The connection with FIDES for the fleet register has however been established since 2004 as this was the first link to be tackled. The report does not convey the true picture as the reporting format does not allow for particular situations, such as this, to be indicated.

Certain issues mentioned in the article could well prove to be misleading. As an example one could mention that Malta had no quotas to declare for 2004 as our fishermen do not fish under quota regimes. The only fishery in Malta which involves a catch allocation is the Blue Fin Tuna and that fishery had started in 2004, prior to Malta forming part of the European Union and we were therefore not obliged to report that data. This notwithstanding, Malta had informed the Commission on the 2004 tuna season data when it was reported to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna (ICCAT).

Moreover, during the 2005 tuna season Malta was the only member state to submit all the necessary data. Malta submitted a nil return on the shark finning issue to the offices of the European Commission responsible for ICCAT data but it appears that the offices responsible for monitoring and control require separate reporting.