Maltese tuna fetching 'good prices'

Tuna caught in Malta will be exported by Azzopardi Fisheries after the company won the contract for the lucrative job following a call for tenders.

The agreement was signed yesterday with the Fisheries Cooperative, which means Azzopardi Fisheries will be exporting tuna caught from boats less than 24 metres long between April 15 and June 30.

"The tuna caught by Maltese fishermen's long-lines are once again yielding good prices and, as in previous years, fishermen are finding a good market for their catch," the Resources Ministry said.

The tuna market, it added, was in constant evolution and the ministry was working on a national plan on aquaculture. A tender was being prepared to carry out studies in the sea, north of the Sikka l-Bajda region to relocate all the tuna pens in the north of Malta.

As tuna remains sought after, the environmental group WWF recently cautioned that Bluefin tuna stocks may be depleted within three years if overfishing continued at the present rate.

The fish is by far the most lucrative of any local catches as the Japanese market is prepared to pay millions of euro for its prized meat. Beyond this, thousands of small tuna are brought to Malta in cages by foreign fishermen to be fattened at various tuna ranches along the Maltese coastline and later exported to the Japanese sushi market.