The killifish conservation project has been rolled out by Nature Trust Malta and the Department of Fisheries to raise awareness and educate the public about the importance of preserving the endangered species and its habitat.

The killifish, bużaqq in Maltese, is a small fish endemic to the Mediterranean. It is found mainly along the central to the eastern coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea and around islands like Sicily, Corsica and Malta.

Genetic tests had shown that every population was different, making the local Maltese population unique, Nature Trust president Vince Attard said.

In Malta, however, this fish is endangered and in urgent need of proper management by competent institutions to prevent the degradation of its habitat that is negatively affecting the species.

Maltese population of killifish is unique

The project includes captive-breeding programmes and securing a viable population in captivity as well as the effective and sustainable management of the Natura 2000 site at il-Magħluq, in Marsascala.

Ray Caruana, from the Malta Aquaculture Research Centre, said that, up to a few years ago, the killifish was found in il-Magħluq and il-Ballut, Marsaxlokk. However, anthropogenic activity led to heavy decline in the stocks at both sites, with the population at il-Magħluq being wiped out completely. A small population from il-Ballut was taken to il-Magħluq by Nature Trust volunteers in the 1990s to restart the population there. They succeeded but, in the meantime, conditions at il-Ballut did not improve and the Marsaxlokk fish population faced extinction.

Today, the habitat of il-Magħluq is rather poor with many negative pressures including dumping and severe pollution, leading to the decline in numbers of the killifish in this area too.

Nature Trust is lobbying to get the species recognised as Malta’s national fish.

The killifish conservation project was launched with Bank of Valletta’s support.