David Darmanin
Tension between the Maltese and Italian fishing authorities have disrupted the work of local fishermen at the Sicilian harbour of Porto Palo, veteran fisherman Toni Carabott has told MaltaToday.
Carabott, the president of the national fishing cooperative, said Maltese fishermen were being subjected to onerous checks by Italian authorities in a sort of ‘retribution’ for recent diplomatic spats.
“The Capitaneria at Porto Palo is being picky with Maltese fishermen now,” Carabott said. “Checks have increased substantially and even if these are within the Italian authorities’ rights – they are even asking for embarkation documents which are not even applicable to the Maltese system.”
Carabott said fishermen have been given a hard time ever since relations between the two countries started deteriorating last April, during the Pinar-E standoff.
The incident was provoked after the Maltese government refused entry to the Turkish cargo vessel, carrying 140 stranded migrants it had saved in Malta’s search and rescue area, because it was closer to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Matters were aggravated when in July, Sicilian fishing captain Rosalino Paternostro was arrested and fined €116,000 in Malta after some €350 worth of fish caught in Maltese territorial waters, were discovered aboard his boat.
When his boat, the Maria Salvatrice, was impounded by the Ta’ Liesse waterfront, Italian Ambassador Paolo Trabalza intervened physically by boarding the boat to prevent it from being seized by police.
“The Italians are mad at us,” Carabott said. “We’re taking the flak for the Maltese government’s actions, and this has to stop.”
Carabott said the Maltese and Italian fishermen still enjoy good relations, and that the problem “lies solely with the authorities” for the time being.
He claims no Italian fishing vessel has moored in Malta since the Paternostro arrest. “If it carries on this way, I fear that conflicts will also arise between the Maltese and the Sicilians in general, and not just with the authorities,” he warned.
“Porto Palo is a unique port for us Maltese, chiefly because the Italian fishermen based there tend to be the most comprehensive. We know them all there.”
Specifically referring to the Paternostro case, Carabott said: “The treatment given to the Italian fishermen by the Maltese authorities was inhumane. The captain came in escorted, spent a night and a day anchored at the pier and then was arrested needlessly. A toilet at the fisheries, where he was berthed, was even padlocked by staff when it is usually always open. I know for sure that had the fishermen been Cypriot, they would not have been treated in the same way.”
Carabott’s son, also a fisherman, had assisted Paternostro’s crew throughout their stay in Malta when the incident happened. “Although there may have been occasions where fishermen from both countries argued out at sea, it is known we help each other whenever we can. Once back on land… we love one another, and we want to keep it this way.”
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