(Adds statement by Ghaqda Koperattiva Sajd)
Malta believes the management of blue fin tuna should continue to rest within the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) as Regional Fisheries Management Organisation, the country has told the European Council.
In a position submitted to the council yesterday on the European Commission’s proposal for a Council decision establishing the position to be adopted on the European Union, Malta said that at community level, it had always advocated support for the sustainable management of tuna stocks. Malta believed that the decisions on fisheries activities concerning blue fin tuna should be based on scientific studies, rather than assumptions.
Sustainability in the management of the stock was required as this was a very important stock in Malta’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors.
Malta said that the staggered approach being proposed by the Commission would continue to rely on the framework of ICCAT’s decisions, including the recovery plan for this stock, without ensuring legal certainty on future decisions that would affect those involved in this sector.
In view of this, Malta continued to believe that the management and sustainability of blue fin tuna stocks should be ensured through ICCAT, avoiding issues that might arise out of dual governance of the species.
Malta said that that a better option to ensure real sustainability would have been to base decisions on a scientific study that identifiee the requirements of the sector in a factual and objective manner.
FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE
While Malta agreed that in the case of an eventual entry into force of an international trade ban, seafarers and shipowners affected would require financial assistance, farming intermediary services, which in Malta were very significant and represented 4.5 per cent of the value of all country exports were ignored.
Financial assistance, Malta said, should be in the form of additional funds from the EU budget, since Malta could not meet its eventual compensation requirements from its current fund allocation.
Malta said it understood that aquaculture would play an ever increasing role in meeting Europe’s food requirements, and in this regard it was worth noting that Malta was a key player in pan-European research.
Where operators and stakeholders demonstrated a willingness and an interest in ensuring sustainability of this species, their needs had to be taken into account.
TRADITIONAL FISHING PRACTICES
Malta also clarified that its fisheries sector was small scale and used traditional methods of fishing, targeting blue fin tuna exclusively in international waters.
Therefore, the Commission’s current proposal would adversely and unfairly affect the Maltese traditional fisheries.
In fact, Malta had consistently allocated its national blue fin tuna quota to small-scale fishers.
The country believed that such practices of sustainable fishing using suitable controls should not be penalised in the event of an international trade ban, and that intra-community trade from fish caught through traditional methods should be provided for. Malta urged the Commission to revise its proposal to provide for the continuation of this fishery.
Malta agreed that the European Union should exercise care to ensure that any decision taken and acted upon would not result in any loss of competitiveness in this, and other sectors.
It agreed with the European Union’s conviction that it should be a leader in environmental protection, and felt that it should be ensured that each decision taken should not ignore the interests of any stakeholders.
The Ghaqda Koperattiva Sajd thanked the government for its statement and said this position was similar to its own.