Arnold Cassola, chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika - The Green Party (AD), has written to EU Commissioners Joe Borg (Fisheries) and Stavros Dimas (Environment) to request an investigation into false declarations allegedly submitted by Maltese tuna ranchers regarding the capacity of their individual farms.
AD has also asked the Commission to look into claims that the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs (MRRA) may have wrongly listed two non-existent farms among its registered bluefin tuna ranching facilities.
Both allegations were publicised by MaltaToday in the past weeks, alongside additional allegations of Malta’s possible involvement in the illegal laundering of bluefin tuna: a critically endangered species in the Mediterranean.
“The issues brought up by MaltaToday are of an extremely serious nature,” Cassola said on Monday. “If what MaltaToday alleges were true, this would not only mean that Maltese companies are contributing to the destruction of fish stocks in the Mediterranean, but also that (they) are swindling millions of euros through their alleged false declarations. What would be even more serious, if true, is the revelation by MaltaToday that the MRRA has allegedly made a false declaration to the European Commission's fisheries directorate, by declaring two non-existent tuna farms amongst Malta's registered tuna ranches.”
AD also asked Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to set up an immediate board of inquiry to investigate this allegation.
Last Sunday, MaltaToday published the results of a survey commissioned by international tuna consultancy firm ATRT/SL, which compared Malta’s official declarations to the Commission’s fisheries directorate with aerial reconnaissance photos taken last weekend by Greenpeace International.
The results revealed glaring discrepancies between the claimed capacities of these ranches, and the maximum amount of live bluefin tuna the same ranches can physically hold.
MaltaToday also revealed that two of Malta’s official tuna fattening ranches – Mediterranean Tuna Ltd in Benghajsa, and Deep Sea Aquaculture in Delimara – have been declared as operative to the EC’s DG Mare, when in actual fact neither farm exists.
“Though still to be officially proven, (these allegations) seem to have a sound scientific basis, since the paper has commissioned a scientific study by a foreign expert and organisation that has concluded that ‘not one of these (Malta tuna) farms has declared its actual capacity to the international regulator, as required by both ICCAT regulations and EU directives,” Cassola wrote to the Commission.
“AD therefore asks the Commission to immediately investigate these serious allegations brought up by MaltaToday, not only to evaluate whether there have been any fraudulent dealings at the expense of the Maltese and European taxpayer, but also to ensure that the biodiversity of the Mediterranean sea surrounding us is safeguarded.”
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