Letters | Wednesday, 17 December 2008

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More misinterpretation

Once again your columnist has ventured into analysis and assumptions (MaltaToday, 7 December 2008 and 17 December 2008) that are only figments of his imagination. As in previous occasions, your correspondent fails to substantiate his assumptions and allegations.
He insists that the Fisheries Division within the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs has supplied contradictory information on carry-over data to the European Commission, the Maltese Parliament and MaltaToday. This is absolutely incorrect and MaltaToday has actually published the list of carry-overs in its website when it carried our answer on the 23 November 2008.
That list of carry-overs includes the catches per vessel and therefore the flag state of each vessel. This is the same data which has been passed to the EU Commission in the first quarter of this year. Once again your columnist has opted to interpret a parliamentary question in a different manner from its original intent. The PQ mentioned in your articles never intended to ask about fish that was carried over but queried the amounts of fish in the farms.
I want to confirm that the fish in the farms in 2007 originated from catches by fishing vessels of France, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Korea and Malta and amounted to a total of 7,984 tons of which 1,253 tons were lost in a storm and 1,347 tons carried forward to 2008. The fish carried forward was of Libyan, Moroccan, French, Italian and Maltese origin as per list sent to you with the response of the 23 November 2008. It is true that there was Korean fish in Maltese pens but this was not carried over as your correspondent chose to misinterpret.
With regards to your other allegation of illicit activities, highlighted by the sensational photo of the Azzurra II which did not carry nets and winches and therefore could not have caught the fish. Your correspondent is kindly invited to inform himself by reading the relevant part of the blue fin tuna recovery plan, dealing specifically with the joint fishing operations.
One of the ways how to make good use of fishing opportunities without increasing fishing effort is by joining fishing vessels in groups, where only part of them will carry out active fishing and the others will help in the localization of the fish and the provision of catch quotas. This is the reason why Azzurra II has winches but did not carry nets, precisely because it formed part of a registered joint fishery operation. So much for the sensational scoop!
It is highly undesirable for my Division to continue this exchange of correspondence on an issue which has been exhaustively explained but which, for some reason unknown to us, continue to be repeated ad nauseam.
I genuinely appeal that future articles are not solely based on supposedly reliable information and sources, but are expertly vetted before being published. I am sure that you agree with the undersigned, that your esteemed readers deserve substantiated articles based on facts.

Anthony Gruppetta
Director General
Fisheries Control

Editorial note:
We stand by our story as reported.

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