Malta urged to investigate tuna illegalities, as even Japan recommends fishery closure
Raphael Vassallo
The World Wildlife Fund has urged Malta’s authorities to investigate alleged illegalities in the bluefin tuna trade, after its special report on Italy revealed that ranches in Malta and Croatia were holding tuna that was illegally caught by Italian vessels.
This appeal came a day after the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) voted overwhelmingly on Monday to recommend the total closure of the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery.
This drastic measure is now backed even by Japan: the world’s largest consumer of bluefin tuna, and sole purchaser of over 90% of Malta-farmed tuna.
“WWF urges the Maltese and European authorities to investigate seriously any indications of illegal fishing in the Mediterranean, and looks forward to positive decisions taken by ICCAT in November to safeguard the future of this millennial fishery – including a complete closure of the fishery, until things are brought under control,” press officer Gemma Parkes told MaltaToday.
“WWF is disturbed by the apparent lack of control in this fishery, which is close to collapse, and the way hundreds of tonnes of bluefin tuna can just go astray unrecorded. Scientists have made it clear that the species simply cannot survive this sustained level of overfishing for much longer, and that urgent management overhaul is required to save the tuna.”
The WWF’s Italy report, forwarded to the European Commissioner for Fisheries Dr Joe Borg last Tuesday, claims that around 800 tonnes of Italian-caught bluefin tuna was transferred to Maltese cages in 2008. But a statement by the Malta government reveals that the actual figure is even higher, at 1,090 tonnes.
The Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) is a critically endangered species believed to be on the brink of total stocks collapse. If this happens, the Mediterranean bluefin tuna fishery will be forced to close, with untold impact on the fishing communities it currently sustains.
It is partly for the reason that the IUCN this week approved a motion to halve European national quotas to the levels originally recommended by scientists, and to permanently ban the May/June season for purse-seiners.
Among the surprise countries to vote in favour was Spain: the second largest tuna fishing nation in the Mediterranean after Italy.
This historic vote was taken in the wake of a report, compiled by an independent commission of experts for the international regulatory body ICCAT, which last month lambasted the Mediterranean bluefin fishery as “a travesty” and an “international disgrace”. In reaction, Japan’s Mitsubishi Corporation said that it would “reassess its role” in the industry.
“We didn’t know (the IUCN vote) would pass, let alone pass so overwhelmingly,” Dr Sergi Tudela, head of fisheries in WWF’s Mediterranean office, said yesterday.
“Common sense is now promising to bring an end to the real shame in the international system of fisheries management. The message that we need to close the fishery now or have few fish and no fishery into the future is now coming from scientists, from consumers, from communities and from countries.”
No investigation
But the IUCN’s message does not appear to have reached the government of Malta, which stolidly refuses to investigate the many illegalities alleged by reputable international organisations.
Last week, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister shrugged off a damning WWF report, implicating Malta in an international tuna laundering racket, choosing instead to rely exclusively on the repeated assurances of the Rural Affairs Ministry.
“The Fisheries Department informed OPM that reports published by your paper were systematically answered and you were also invited to view all files you required for your investigation. The Fisheries Department also entertains all other requests from the media since we have nothing to hide,” spokesperson Gordon Pisani told MaltaToday (although it is unclear to whom he was referring, through his use of ‘we’).
“OPM is informed that the Fisheries Department’s records in the management of bluefin tuna fishery are transparent and in conformity with international obligations,” he added.
“However it must be stressed that Government will never condone any illegal and illicit activities, and immediate action will be taken if any illegalities are discovered. It must be reiterated that the European Commission maintains regular contact with the Fisheries Department, and all queries are answered factually and exhaustively.”
However, it transpires from Commission sources that – far from “maintaining regular contact” – the Commission was left waiting for over two months for a reply to its initial request for information.
When the reply finally came, it turned out under scrutiny to contain numerous anomalies and apparent irregularities... including details of transhipments carried out on an illegally registered ship, sold to a fictitious company in Spain, then somehow passed off as a Japanese import from Malta.
Also, the government stuck to its guns on the question of “transhipments” being listed as official Maltese re-exports to Japan. This accounts for almost 5,000 tonnes of the 11,900 tonnes exported during 2007-2008, and among the countries of origin cited by the Fisheries Division are Turkey and Libya... despite the fact that Malta did not register any imports from those two countries for the corresponding time-period.
Elsewhere, MaltaToday has since July been pointing out various apparent illegalities associated with this industry: including the fact that a tuna farm licensed to AJD Tuna Ltd in the Comino channel currently has 21 cages, when the Mepa permit specifies a maximum of only four.
Similarly, the office of the Attorney General took over three months to act on a damning inquiry report, carried out on the European Commission’s insistence, which implicated Azzopardi Fisheries in an illegal reflagging exercise involving bluefin tuna fishing vessels... and even then, the decision to press charges came only after international media pressure, including an article on Fishing International entitled “Tuna scandal stalls with AG”.
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