Borg to meet tuna fishermen on Monday

EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg on Monday will meet a delegation of blue fin tuna fishermen who held a protest outside the EU offices in Malta yesterday.

Informed sources said a delegation of eight fishermen will attend the meeting.

About 300 Italian and French fishermen whose boats are based in Malta had protested over the EU ban on tuna fishing using purse seiner nets. The ban came into force last Monday.

The EU imposed the ban to conserve fish stocks, but the fishermen complained that since there had been bad weather, they had not yet achieved their fishing quota.

At one point, the fishermen warned that they would block Grand Harbour and Marsaxlokk with their trawlers in order to raise awareness about their plight.

Later yesterday Dr Borg issued a statement in Brussels reiterating his position that the tuna season will remain closed.

"The European Commission has in its possession all the data needed to establish that the EU purse seine fleet has now exhausted its quota. Our decision is based on the most detailed analysis of the fishery, using multiple sources of information, which have been cross-checked against one another on a daily basis," Dr Borg explained.