Marsaxlokk fishermen have all but given up on the government sticking to an electoral pledge to build a new breakwater to protect their boats from rough winter waves.
National Fisheries Cooperative president Marco Carabott yesterday told the Times of Malta dozens of fishermen were having to spend long nights watching over their vessels as rough waves were drummed out with every sirocco wind.
“Just recently there was some rough weather that could have seriously damaged boats in the bay. There’s not much you can do but sit and hope your vessel stays secure. Spending the night helplessly looking on as waves pound your livelihood is a horrible feeling,” Mr Carabott, a fisherman himself, said.
Some 300 boats are moored in the idyllic Marsaxlokk Bay, and while the larger vessels often raise anchor and head to Grand Harbour in rough weather, smaller boats have no choice but to face the waves and wind head-on.
Mr Carabott said that, while the bay already had a number of breakwaters, these were either too small, too poorly constructed, or in one case – made the situation even worse.
The Labour Party had pledged to build a new breakwater prior to the 2013 general election. The following year the government had said about €6 million would be needed to build the breakwater and it was trying to tap EU funds to finance the project. Back then, the Secretariat for Agriculture and Fisheries had said the breakwater was an electoral pledge and would be completed before the legislature was through.
Mr Carabott, however, has his doubts. Quick to insist this was not a partisan issue, the fisherman said he had heard a number of promises before.
“Successive governments have told us they would build a breakwater to help minimise the damage caused. They promised but never delivered. We would rather have this and get nothing else from the government than remain without the breakwater and risk damage to our boats,” he said.
It would appear that a new breakwater was not always necessary. Mr Carabott explained how the shape of the bay and seabed had once provide a natural barrier to the ravaging swells. Large pro-jects around the Delimara area, however, had changed the subaquatic landscape, opening the bay to the elements.
Mr Carabott now hopes it will be a new construction project around the bay that may save the boats.
Fishermen, he said, were hoping the government would use the new power plant project as an opportunity to finally get around to constructing the breakwater.
Michael Vella, a lifelong fisherman, shared the sentiment. Speaking after a morning spent sanding his kajjik, Mr Vella, 62, said the government would be foolish not to seize the opportunity. “They are already constructing around the mouth of the bay, now is the time for this breakwater,” he said.
Last year, this newspaper had reported how a development application for a breakwater had been submitted to the planning authority and an environment impact assessment had been ordered.
Questions sent to the Fisheries Parliamentary Secretariat yesterday were not replied to by the time of writing.