Italian, French fishermen threaten to block Grand Harbour

About 300 Italian and French fishermen yesterday protested in front of the European Commission Representative Office in Ta' Xbiex over the EU decision to ban purse seiner fishing for bluefin tuna.

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

There are about 30 trawlers in Maltese ports.

The protesting fishermen also insisted with the Representative Office's press and political officer, Edward Demicoli, for a meeting with the European Commissioner for Fisheries Joe Borg.

Mr Demicoli told the fishermen that a meeting with Dr Borg was possible only after Monday (since he was not in Brussels) and on condition that the fishermen made a formal request for the meeting through their association.

This was not satisfactory because the end of the season - June 30 - is fast approaching, Pasquale della Monica, a spokesman for the fishermen said.

He said the fishermen were now discussing to see what further protest action can be taken. As an alternative to blocking Malta's ports, the fishermen may decide to go out fishing in protest, he said.

Later in the day, 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.

He said that this year the fishery has also been marred by illegal activities. "For example, we know of eight French purse seine vessels which have spent up to 21 days fishing since the start of the season but have, so far, declared no catches. At this moment in time, half the French fleet have caught nothing according to official figures while the other half declare that they have caught over 90 per cent of their individual quotas, although all the vessels show similar activity rates," Dr Borg said.

"We are also aware of eight Italian purse seine vessels, which, according to official figures, have overshot their quota by between 100 and 240 per cent," he said.

It was at about 11 a.m. when the fishermen started their peaceful protest opposite the Representative Office in Ta' Xbiex.

Mr Demicoli took note of the complaints of the fishermen and told them that he would send an e-mail to Brussels.

In his e-mail, Mr Demicoli said the fishermen told him they had not reached their quota and that they were being discriminated against since fishermen from other countries, like Libya, Turkey and Croatia, can continue fishing for tuna while they are being stopped.

"The recent inclement weather has made it impossible for them over the last weeks to go out and fish. They have only been fishing for five, six days and, therefore, it is unfair that they are being stopped from continuing," the e-mail said.

"They are very worried as they have invested money and are under contract to supply fish until the end of June and they are therefore going to be in severe financial difficulties if the European Commission will go ahead with the curtailment of the season," Mr Demicoli wrote in his e-mail, echoing what was said to him by the fishermen.

Mr della Monica said all the fishermen were requesting for was for their rights to be respected. "We are looked upon as the worst culprits of the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, it is not the individual member states of the community that are in command but the Fisheries Commissioner of the EU. Member states are not important anymore," he lamented.

Mr della Monica explained that the fishermen come to Malta because the country is the closest to their fishing grounds and they come here to seek shelter when the weather is bad.

In his opinion the Commission should verify what it says about quotas with officers on Italian and French vessels that stop the trawlers and carry out their own controls on each and every trawler.

Mr della Monica also protested at the fact that the stopping of tuna fishing involved only a number of EU countries such as Italy, France, Malta, Cyprus and Greece.

It was unfair that, by a simple decree, the European Commission would arbitrarily and without consultation order a stop to tuna fishing on the presumption - not after verifying facts - that certain countries have exhausted their tuna quotas, he added.

The European Commission announced last Friday that the bluefin tuna fishing season for industrial trawlers would close last Monday. Tuna ranching farms, abundant in Malta, might be hit negatively as they cannot accept any more tuna to fatten before exporting them to Japan.

The decision was taken in Brussels by Dr Borg following information that the quotas set for this year are close to being reached.

All purse seiners from Greece, France, Italy, Cyprus and Malta have been prohibited from fishing as from last Monday and purse seiners from Spain will be banned from June 23. Other segments of the fleet that still have quotas available are free to continue fishing.