Azzopardi Fisheries Ltd has filed a judicial protest demanding compensation from both the European Commission and the Maltese Ministry for Resources, Agriculture and the Environment (MRAE), after Commissioner Joe Borg closed down the Mediterranean and Atlantic bluefin tuna fisheries as of June 16.
Spokespersons for the European Commission and MRAE confirmed receiving the judicial letter this week, but no details were forthcoming as to how much money Charles Azzopardi, the local tuna ranching magnate otherwise known as ‘Il-Poodle’, is requesting in compensation.
Industry sources stipulate that the closure of the tuna season has resulted in losses running into millions of euros.
Earlier this month, Joe Borg justified his controversial decision to cut short the tuna season by citing figures which suggest that European members states had already exhausted over 80% of their Total Allocated Catch (TAC).
In implementing the measure, the Commissioner also commented on the unacceptably high incidence of illegal fishing: “This year again, the fishery has been marred by countless failures to properly implement the rules which have been agreed at international level to manage the bluefin tuna stock sustainably,” Borg said in a statement issued 17 June.
Illegal practices include the use of spotter planes, the under-declaring of catch, as well as numerous irregularities involving the flagging and licensing of purse-seine vessels – fishing boats equipped with hi-tech nets, capable of trapping tuna in much larger quantities than traditional methods such as long-line fishing.
Ironically, Charles Azzopardi himself is at the centre of numerous such allegations. In May, Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) sent the Commission photographic evidence of an irregular flagging exercise which took place in the Valletta harbour, involving four vessels owned by AJD Tuna Ltd: a subsidiary of Azzopardi Fisheries.
The manoeuvre involved switching between Bolivian, Maltese and Libyan registrations, in order to change the identity of two unlicensed purse-seiners to enable them to fish in Libyan waters with an internationally recognised license. But after the exercise was made public by international conservation groups, all four boats found themselves impounded and under investigation: two in Malta, and the other two in Libya.
The local inquiry, ordered by transport minister Austin Gatt, observed that Charles and Anthony Azzopardi, owners of AJD Tuna Ltd, had been “economical with the truth”, and concluded that given the possibility of conflicting interpretations, the ministry should seek the assistance of the Attorney General.
More recently still, the captain of a French purse-seiner Sainte Antoine Marie, under contract to supply tuna for Azzopardi Fisheries, was charged in court with illegally fishing in Maltese waters. The same vessel had earlier lost its license to fish in Libya, precisely after Libyan authorities impounded the two impostor vessels belonging to Azzopardi.
With the tuna season now closed for two weeks, questions have also been raised as to the continued presence in international waters of Azzopardi-owned tuna pens containing live tuna: as evidenced by recent reports of irregular immigrants, rescued after clinging to these pens for safety.
Only tuna caught before June 16 can legally be held.