EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg has declared he is ready to meet fishermen who earlier today protested in Malta over the ban on purse seiner fishing for tuna, but he said such a meeting cannot happen before Monday, and a formal request has to be made.

The protest was made outside the EU offices in Ta' Xbiex by a group of some 300 Italian and French fishermen who warned that they would block Grand Harbour and Marsaxlokk unless they are given an appointment to meet EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg.

Following the announcement by Dr Borg's office a spokesman for the fishermen said they were not satisfied since the meeting needed to be held urgently, given that the fishing season was advanced.

The fishermen have some 30 trawlers based in Malta. They are insisting that because of poor weather they only fished for a few days and have not yet achieved the fishing quota set by the EU.

Furthermore, they said it was unfair that fishermen from other countries such as Croatia and Libya were continuing to fish for tuna.

Fishing for blue fin tuna using purse seiner nets was banned as from last Monday, but Maltese fishermen were not affected since they use traditional methods to fish for tuna. Malta has only two registered purse seiner fishermen.

Purse seiners are considered to be the main culprits of the recent depletion of tuna stocks as hundreds of fish are caught in one go. According to estimates, at the height of the season, in June, the EU purse seine fleet was capable of catching 10 per cent of the EU's total annual quota in just three days.