Malta’s fish farming industry saw a precipitous 22.4 per cent drop in business last year as operational surpluses, income, fish purchases and sales all declined dramatically.

But alarmists might want to steer clear of the panic button just yet, with Charles Azzopardi of Azzopardi Fisheries saying the poor numbers were a weather-related one-off.

“We had extremely poor fishing weather in May and June of last year, which meant fish catches – tuna in particular – were especially poor,” he argued.

He remained upbeat about this year’s prospects, saying that 2012’s farming stocks were “extremely good” and likely to exceed 2010’s high numbers.

“It’s looking like a very good 2012. There are so many variables when it comes to fishing that it’s always hard to tell what any given year will turn out like,” he said.

Fish farms such as those owned by Azzopardi Fisheries contract fishermen to catch live tuna and sell it to them. The fish is then placed in pens, bred and farmed. A look at figures for 2011, released by the National Statistics Office, show just how poor a year it was for fish farmers.

The aquaculture industry’s gross value added collapsed by some two-thirds from 2010 levels, while its factor income declined from the €13.2 million of 2010 to €2.8 million.

Entrepreneurs in the sector felt the pinch, with their income falling by 114 per cent. While in 2010 entrepreneurs made some €8.6 million, last year they had to make do with losses of €1.2 million.

Declines in catches and farmed fish were matched by similar falls in the amount of fish bought and sold. Sea bass and tuna fish were the most badly affected, with 86 per cent and 64 per cent less of each sold respectively.

To compound its woes, the industry also had to deal with fuel costs which almost doubled, from a shade over €1 million in 2010 to €2 million and counting last year.

Fish farmers could not even console themselves by cutting their losses in the open market: while the per-kilogram price at which they sold their produce rose by 27.8 per cent, their purchase price rose even further, by 37.5 per cent.