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Karl Schembri
Fishermen’s representatives are calling on the government to push for sanctions on Libya’s tuna exports in response to the controversial 62 miles “fishing conservation zone” that excludes them from fishing in their historical fishing grounds.
In a meeting held with EU Fisheries Commissioner Joe Borg and Environment Minister George Pullicino, officials from the National Fisheries Cooperative and the Ghaqda Koperattiva tas-Sajd demanded that international sanctions are imposed on Libya until the dispute is resolved, claiming that they are already being hit hard by the Libyans’ unilateral decision.
“We insisted that the government acts immediately on this by pushing for sanctions on the transportation of tuna from Libyan waters,” said Paul Piscopo, the President of the Ghaqda Koperattiva tas-Sajd. “The situation is precarious for us all. Apart from the historical fishing waters we’ve lost, we are already ending up with other foreign fishermen in our remaining restricted area.”
Government sources say the fishermen’s demand for sanctions is “unrealistic”. Last week, when MaltaToday revealed that Col Muammar Gaddafi’s son, Seif al-Islam, is set to be the net beneficiary of this so-called conservation zone through his tuna fishing company RH Marine, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said Malta was tackling the dispute with Libya on a diplomatic front.
Piscopo said the government’s diplomatic efforts “are leading to nowhere” as the Libyans are effectively enforcing their own decree.
“Commissioner Borg promised us to seek the agreement of the other EU member states to tackle this issue at a European level,” Piscopo said. “But there are foreign tuna industry giants involved in this and their governments won’t ruin their business.”
“We all know that this has nothing to do with conservation of the fishing stocks, in fact Libya is increasing its fishing fleet,” Piscopo said. “If it was not for some European businessmen they would have left everything as before. A good example of a conservation zone is the Maltese Shelf, where Malta decreased fishing in its 25 mile zone.”
karl@newsworksltd.com
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