Tunisian ship captain to be charged in court over illegal fishing

A Tunisian ship captain landed in hot water on Monday morning for fishing illegally in Maltese waters.

The Valletta Patrol Police, along with the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM), inspected a Tunisian fishing vessel that had just docked at Xatt il-Barrieri yesterday evening.

This inspection was prompted by allegations that the vessel was fishing illegally in Maltese territorial waters.

The vessel was taken to the Marsa Landing Facility this morning, where the Environmental Protection Unit (EPU) of the Police discovered that it lacked the necessary licences to fish in Malta's territorial waters.

The captain, a 29-year-old Tunisian man, was arrested, and the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture seized approximately 500kg of fish and fishing equipment.

The man is expected to appear in court in the coming days on charges related to this case, while police investigations continue.

Last October, the AFM intercepted two Tunisian fishing vessels in a similar case. Both ship captains were fined €10,000 each, accused of failing to inform Maltese officials of the amounts and descriptions of the fish aboard the vessel before entering Maltese fishing waters and failing to give three days prior notice of their plans to enter Malta.

MaltaToday reported in 2019 how Maltese lampuki fishers have seen their catches plundered by Tunisian counterparts in a veritable war on the high seas.

Some Maltese fishers claim to have been threatened by the Tunisians wielding machetes and Molotov cocktails.