Updated 1.30pm with PA action

The operators of four tuna fish farms were served with an emergency enforcement order this morning, hours after it emerged that more than half of the fish farm cages are illegal.

The enforcement orders require, that with immediate effect, the operators will comply with all the conditions stipulated in their respective planning permits. This includes both the number of structures and the operations of the fish farms.

By Monday, the operators each need to present a method statement on how they will be addressing the illegalities and how they will be removing them within a specified reasonable period.

The decision was taken following a meeting between the Planning Authority, the Environment and Resources Authority and the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture with the operators. 

The authority made it clear with the operators that the way they are operating their tuna fish farms today is totally unacceptable and negatively impacting the coastal bathing water.

Daily fines will go up to €2,000, up to a maximum of €200,000 in the aggregate

Two of the tuna fish farms are located in the north part of the island, close to Comino and is-Sikka l-Bajda, off St Paul's Bay and another two are located off Marsaxlokk.

The authority said it reserves the right to proceed with direct action if it deems that the operators are not addressing the issue adequately. The Planning Authority also reserves the right to withdraw the current permits that each operator today enjoys.

Next week, a revised legal notice will be published which will introduce harsher administrative fines intended for any planning illegalities related to the sea including illegalities in the aquaculture sector. Daily fines will go up to €2,000, up to a maximum of €200,000 in the aggregate.

Over half the cages are illegal

Over half the existing fish farm cages operated by the three largest
companies are illegal, according  to the Environment Ministry.

Information supplied to the Times of Malta shows there are 47 cages operated by AJD Limited, located in St Paul’s Bay, Fish and Fish Limited and Malta Fish Farming Limited, which are located at Xrobb l-Għaġin in the south.

The infringements are not limited to the number of cages being used but also to their size and the species they hold (see table). Most of the infringements relate to tuna, by far the most lucrative of the species as a result of demand from the Japanese market.

The new data was released as complaints about a foamy slime plaguing the length and breadth of the eastern coast soared this summer. The resulting pollution was described as “unprecedented”.

The infringements are not limited to the number of cages being used but also to their size and the species they hold

This newspaper started highlighting the issue in July with the publication of an aerial shot clearly showing the slime from the farms in the south heading
towards the coast.

Environment Minister José Herrera admitted on Tuesday that the source of the slime was fish feed. Dr Herrera took the initiative to put together a committee that reached this conclusion after years of inertia.

Summer after summer, public complaints about the white, foamy
slime that reeked of fish had fallen on deaf ears. None of the authorities
responsible would admit the farms were causing the problem.

Last July, Salvu Ellul, owner of Malta Fish Farming Limited, admitted for the first time, in a candid interview with this newspaper, that the tuna farms were
causing the problem.

The admission came after The Sunday Times of Malta reported that the company
had increased its cages to four times the permitted number.

Other operators continued to cast doubt that they were actually the cause. These included Charles Azzopardi, owner of AJD Limited, and Joseph Caruana, of Fish and Fish Limited.

The question now is when the necessary action will be taken. On social media, concern has been raised that nothing will be done as complaints subside after summer when the swimming season ends. The fear is that the operators will then be allowed to continue with business as usual, as has happened year after year.

Dr Herrera admitted the fish farming industry, which accounts for about one per cent of GDP, was riddled with abuse and promised that the authorities would take
action. Yet he could not say when the environment and planning authorities would act.

Planning Authority chief executive Johann Buttigieg said that once the environment authority decided to act, an emergency enforcement order would give operators a period of time to regularise their position.

When pressed on what course of action would be taken, Mr Buttigieg said that if operators did not conform, the Planning Authority could tow cages out to sea,
release the fish or kill them. Yet he made no commitment.

Each of the operators has been served enforcement notices, one of them dating back to the year 2000. Enforcement notices referring to the other two operators in the south were issued in 2014.

The operators filed an appeal against these enforcement orders, and the hearings have been dragging on since.

The Planning Appeals Board has now committed to hearing the enforcement-order cases as a matterof urgency.
caroline.muscat@timesofmalta.com