A European Court of Justice judgment yesterday opened the gates to compensation claims worth millions of euros after ruling southern tuna ranchers had been discriminated against in a 2008 fishing ban.
The court ruled that tuna ranchers in Malta, France, Italy, Cyprus and Greece were discriminated against when the European Commission ordered a temporary fishing ban that excluded Spanish trawlers.
The Luxembourg-based court said the Commission’s “regulation infringed the principle of non-discrimination” as “it has not been established that Spanish purse seiners (fishing vessels) were in a situation which was objectively different from that of other purse seiners...”
Charles Azzopardi, director of Malta’s largest tuna ranching company, Azzopardi Fisheries, said the ruling was a massive boost to his company although he would not confirm whether he would be claiming compensation.
It has yet to be clarified whether compensation claims should be filed against Brussels or against national governments that enforced the Commission’s decision.
“My lawyers are studying the details of the judgment and we will proceed from there,” Mr Azzopardi said.
Stopping short from giving figures, he said his company had suffered a massive blow when the fishing season was closed prematurely in 2008. “What I can tell you is that it’s a lot of money but my accountants are still collecting all the data and we are not in a position yet to say what sort of damages we suffered,” he said.
In June 2008, the EU Executive had banned purse seiners flying Maltese, Greek, French, Italian and Cypriot flags from fishing for bluefin tuna in the Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean as of June 16 of that same year. Spanish vessels were stopped on June 23.
The regulation also prohibited ranchers from accepting tuna in their cages for fattening or transhipments.
Malta’s AJD Tuna, a subsidiary of Azzopardi Fisheries and which owns two bluefin tuna farming and fattening facilities in Malta, immediately instituted legal proceedings against the Director of Agriculture and Fisheries in Malta and the European Commission, seeking compensation for damages.
AJD Tuna also claimed it was unable to acquire the quantity of bluefin tuna it had agreed to buy from French and Italian fishermen before the opening of the fishing season.
Malta is estimated to export about €80 million worth of bluefin tuna to Japan every year. Azzopardi Fisheries are the biggest Maltese exporter in this sector.