News | Sunday, 21 December 2008

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EC approves €11 million for fisheries, as Borg plays down ‘fishy’ allegations

Raphael Vassallo
The European Commission on Thursday approved a financial package worth €11,163,105 – 75% to be funded by the European Fisheries Fund – for the Maltese fisheries industry, with monies allocated for the modernization of the fleet, as well as the creation of a number of new fish farms.
The following day, Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg was quoted on TVM as saying that there was no evidence to support the numerous allegations of Malta’s involvement in a €100 million tuna laundering operation: although the allegations themselves were not explained, nor was any analysis forthcoming from the Commission regarding the numerous inconsistencies and anomalies identified in Malta’s official responses to date.

Funds for fleets, fish markets, fish farms

The Operational Programme for the Maltese Fisheries Industry for the Period 2008-2013, approved last Thursday, is arguably Dr Joe Borg’s last splash as Malta’s appointee to the European Commission before his term expires early next year.
The programme aims “to ensure sustainable and competitive fisheries and aquaculture, in balance with available resources and respecting the environment.”
In practice, it will provide additional funding over four specific areas – including a programme to upgrade the local fishing fleet, to relocate the fish market, as well as to extend Malta’s controversial aquaculture programme: “Productive investments in aquaculture will include the modernisation of existing aquaculture facilities and the development of new ones, targeted to rearing new species, as well as the creation of a land-based hatchery.”
According to the programme report, the number of fish farms is set to increase.
“Malta is currently undertaking to relocate its aquaculture installations further outwards to around 3 km from the shore. This will allow the number of fish farms to increase and it is estimated that production of farmed fish will increase to 15,000 tonnes,” the report says.
Uncharacteristically, there was no official communication by the government’s Department of Information, and the €11 million programme was not reported anywhere in the local media.
The day after this low-key approval, Commissioner Joe Borg told PBS he saw nothing wrong with Malta’s bluefin tuna export figures for 2007, despite numerous allegations to the contrary.
MaltaToday has since July been reporting on the claims, originally made by Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund consultants ATRT/SL, of an alleged 5,000 tonnes discrepancy Maltese and Japanese records of the same export/import transactions.
While Japan registered 11,900 tonnes of bluefin tuna imported from Malta in 2007/2008, ATRT/SL argued that Malta did not have more than half that amount available for export at the time: an estimate independently corroborated by Japanese newspaper, Asahi Shinbum. At 2007-8 market prices, the discrepancy works at around €100 million.
In response, Malta’s Rural Affairs Ministry argued that the excess 5,000 tonnes consisted in transhipments from third countries. But according to ICCAT’s Recommendation 2007-10, for any quantity of tuna to be listed as a re-export, it must first be registered as an import to Malta.
Malta’s Eurostat records do not feature anywhere near the same amount of tuna imports from non-EU countries for 2007/8.
Meanwhile, more anomalies have been identified regarding the claimed carry-over of 1,300 tonnes of live tuna from 2007 to this year. A report published by ATRT last month revealed that the density of individual cages holding this carry-over fish was considerably higher than the maximum established by EIAs for all Malta’s fish farms.
And just this week, the owners of four French purse-seiner fishing vessels were arraigned in Montpellier on charges of illegal fishing in 2007. Several of the fishing vessels identified in this case were also cited in the Rural Affairs Ministry reports as the source of much of the above-mentioned carry-over fish.
Questions sent to the MRRA regarding transactions involving these vessels were not answered by the time we went to print.
On his part, Commissioner Joe Borg has yet to make public the results of the analysis, if any, which enabled him to conclude that the above allegations were unfounded.

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