Large fish farming cages placed illegally inside St Thomas Bay at Marsascala have finally been moved out to sea.

The cages had been inside the bay since the end of February with the Planning Authority issuing an enforcement order for their removal when the case was flagged by this newspaper earlier this month.

This was the second enforcement order against the same operator. The authority has confirmed that in April it issued another enforcement order for repair works on the cages carried out on the shore at St Thomas Bay without a planning permit.

While the second inspection in May found that the onshore work had stopped, the authority imposed a daily fine on the operator for keeping the cages inside the bay without a planning permit.

At one point over the past three months there were as many as nine large cages

The operator defied the order to move the cages out at sea to the designated aquaculture zone off Marsascala. The aquaculture zone hosts several fish farm operators.

The Planning Authority said the operator cited unfavourable weather conditions as justification for not moving the cages.

However, on Thursday, the same day this newspaper reported on the operator’s defiance, the cages were no longer inside the bay.

Residents had expressed concern over the prolonged presence of the cages below the Munxar promontory in the picturesque bay.

At one point over the past three months there were as many as nine large cages. These are used to house fish until they reach adequate size for export or domestic consumption.

Marsascala councillor John Baptist Camilleri had insisted nobody knew what was inside the cages and this created frustration in a community that has often suffered the brunt of pollution coming from the feed used by fish farming operators out at sea.