‘I am not against hunting,’ environment minister insists

‘I am not against hunting, I am only against illegal and unsustainable hunting,’ Environment Minister Jose Herrera claimed on Thursday, during a public meeting in meeting in the ‘Gvern Li Jisma’ series with parliamentary secretary Deborah Schembri.

Herrera said that sustainability was a key focus of the government and that same approach had been adopted with regards to fish farms, which had been left unregulated by the previous administration.

“In the coming weeks, after consulting with the parliamentary secretary, I will be publishing a document outlining a regulatory guideline for the fish farm industry,” he said.

Schembri said that all the fish farms, except one that was currently empty, had conformed to regulations and conditions laid down by the Planning Authority,

She said the sludge sighted in along certain stretches of the coastline need not necessarily be caused by the fish farms.

Herrera confirmed his ministry’s experts had reached the same conclusion.

He noted that all fish farm operators were cooperating closely with the authorities, despite all having individual commerical concerns.

Herrera said that the government will be launching a national strategy, entitled ‘No Carbon Strategy’, in the coming days, to effectively tackle real climate change.

The Environment Resources Authority would be soon be publishing a white paper on the maritime sector, with recommendations to do away with the use of dragging anchors but utilising floating buoys instead.

The minister said that 21 local councils have benefited from funds made available by the Ministry for the Environment under a dedicated programme for the embellishment of towns and villages.

The councils had collectively received €710,000 to date.