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Karl Schembri
Libya has yet to give full details of its fishing zone extension to the Maltese government as fishermen are venturing into troubled waters in the fear that they may be arrested or forced to pay for hefty permits.
Foreign Minister Michael Frendo told MaltaToday yesterday that the Maltese embassy in Tripoli was requesting information from Libyan authorities on a daily basis to establish “the extent of the fishing zone” that would exclude Maltese fishermen from the claimed area.
“Even this morning we were asking for this information from the Libyans,” the minister said. “I hope we get a reply as soon as possible so that we get to know how many Maltese fishermen are affected and how much of their historical fishing grounds are being claimed by the Libyans. We can’t really know the extent of the problem until we know the exact coordinates.”
The Libyan government has announced that it was imposing a 62-mile conservation zone in which foreign or local fishing is forbidden unless with the express authorisation of the Libyans.
In its decree sent to the Maltese government at the beginning of April, the Libyan government said no fishing would be allowed within the fishing preservation zone except for those holding permits “from the competent authority”.
The problem is that while the decision is already effective according to the Libyans, the competent authority to enforce it is still unknown.
To complicate matters, Libya is not a signatory of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), under which it would have been obliged to provide a detailed map to accompany its decision, showing clearly where the exclusive zone lies.
This lack of information is of clear concern to Maltese fishermen, who are claiming that the fishing preservation zone would be disastrous to their livelihood.
“This means the end of most of Maltese fishermen’s’ livelihood,” Karmenu Bugeja International secretary of the Fisherman’s Cooperative said yesterday. “We’re on the alert to see what’s going to happen, but we’re very disappointed that the government did not inform us about the Libyans’ plans earlier.”
Bugeja claimed the Maltese government was informed in February about the Libyans’ intention to declare a fishing conservation zone. Frendo said the Foreign Ministry only got to know about it in April.
“Now some huge fishing companies that can afford to pay for permits will be fishing in waters where we have been fishing for ages,” Bugeja added.
karl@newsworksltd.com
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