Injured Maltese fishermen airlifted to hospital by rescue helicopter

Reuben Silvio, a diver working onboard the vessel "Rosaria Tuna" and which is operated by firm 'Fish and Fish', was injured when environmentalists from the vessel "Sea Shepherd" attempted to hook up and damage the tuna-pen under tow, the Armed Forces of Malta said in a statement.

The incident occurred at around 14.30hrs (CET) when the vessels were located some 35 nautical miles (NM) from Libyan shores, and around 150 NM from Malta.  This was reported to the Armed Forces of Malta's Rescue Co-ordination Centre (RCC Malta) at Luqa Barracks, which in turn also notified their Libyan RCC counterparts in Tripoli.

Given the Maltese diver's condition as time elapsed, the tuna-pen towing operation's lead vessel, the ‘Cesare Rustico’ was instructed by the AFM to proceed on a course towards Malta so as to facilitate a medical-evacuation by helicopter to Mater Dei Hospital. By 22.30hrs, the ‘Cesare Rustico’ had arrived at about 90 miles from Malta. 

Once communication was established with the ‘Cesare Rustico’ by RCC Malta, it came to light that another diver, Mr. Joe Barry, had been injured. Both divers were reported as in a stable condition. An Italian Military Mission AB-212 rescue-helicopter took off from the AFM Air Wing base at Luqa Airport at 21.50.

Earlier in the afternoon, when contacted by MaltaToday, Dr Anthony Gruppetta, Director-General of Fisheries, said that they had requested the Libyan authorities to provide assistance to the two people. In fact, Libyan patrol boats were on the way to provide assistance after the Maltese called for help.

However Gruppetta was not in a position to reply about whether the Maltese operators had been indeed been taken to hospital as he was abroad for a conference. In this case, since the incident occurred outside the Maltese SAR region, the Maltese Armed Forces (AFM) could not intervene.

The tuna pen is the property of Maltese company Fish & Fish, owned by brothers Joe and Saviour Caruana, which was towing a tuna pen with tuna to Malta. Sea Shepherd volunteers on board the ship Steve Irwin reportedly rammed the pen.

Sea Shepherd is an international non-profit, marine wildlife conservation organisation. Similar skirmishes on the high seas have occurred between Greenpeace and Maltese tuna ranchers. According to the Sea Shepherd blog, the group spent nine days of “intensive searching” by ship and helicopter and had not found any illegal tuna fishing operations. Also patrolling the triangular stretch of water between Malta, Tunisia and Libya are the Greenpeace ships Arctic Sunrise and the Rainbow Warrior, with a helicopter in addition to the Sea Shepherd’s Steve Irwin.

The group says that numerous naval vessels from Italy, France, and Malta and even a Libyan warship are also patrolling the area. “It appears that illegal fishing has been seriously reduced this year and thanks to the European Commission decision to close the European fishery on 9 June, I believe the bluefin tuna catch has been seriously diminished this season,” Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson wrote in his blog. “One thing is clear is that the fishing companies are not happy, and that also is good news for the Bluefin… despite the fact that it appears quiet, we intend to continue our surveillance of the seas in search of possible poachers. The small long liners and trawlers that we see are most likely keeping the fishing community aware that we are continuing our patrols.”

PN reaction
The Nationalist Party expressed "deep concern" over the incident. "In actions that can be described at best as fanatical, the campaigners aboard the Steve Irwin have been putting Maltese fishermen’s life and limb in jeopardy... The Partit Nazzjonalista strongly condemns this violent aggression being waged by the Sea Shepherd campaigners who are also harming Maltese workers’ interests and Malta’s economy."

The PN Praised the Armed Forces of Malta "for defending Malta’s interests and those of Maltese tuna fishermen. The Partit Nazzjonalista notes that Maltese fishermen are engaged in perfectly lawful activities and the actions by the Sea Shepherd campaigners are contrary to the basic principles and behaviour. There are other ways and means how Sea Shepherd can voice its message and wage its campaign, but aggression against Maltese fishermen is definitely not one of them."