Tuna lobby appoints lawyer to follow Spanish investigation

The Federation of Maltese Aquaculture Producers (FMAP) have appointed a Spanish lawyer to follow an investigation into illegally-caught bluefin tuna.

79 people were arrested in a Spanish police raid on the sale of 80,000 kilos of illegally-caught bluefin tuna, acquired from Malta and Italy.

FMAP chief executive Charlon Gouder told MaltaToday that according to previous statements issued by Europol, no reference was made to fish fattened in any of the Bluefin tuna farms in Malta but to fish allegedly caught in Italian and Maltese waters.

"It is in our interest to make sure that this investigation has go nothing to do with our tuna fattening industry," Gouder said, explaining the appointment of a lawyer to represent the lobby's interests in Spain. 

"The focus of the investigation appears to be fishing of Bluefin tuna and not to fish harvested from any of the Maltese aquaculture producers."

Arrests were made in various provinces by the Spanish Civil Guard and Europol in what was codenamed Operation Tarantelo.

The Spanish companies implicated in the police operation are said to have acquired the tuna fished over and above quotas allocated to Maltese and Italian fishing companies, and falsified documentation on the tuna.

The Spanish civil guard estimated that the criminal gang could have moved an annual volume of over 1.25 million kilos legally imported from Malta, but then also trafficked over 2.5 million kilos of overfished tuna, estimated at a value of €12 million. 

The operation dates back to 2017, with the tapping of small businesses which then spread to major European tuna ranchers, namely Ricardo Fuentes e Hijos - which owns the Maltese tuna rancher Mare Blu. Investigators then stumbled on a truckload of 50,000 kgs of allegedly illegal tuna from Italy. 

The investigations were centred in the region of Valencia, while security forces from Italy and France took part in the operation. 

"Investigations revealed that the fish was being traded illegally in Spain, but imported into the country through French harbours, after being caught in Italian and Maltese waters," Europol said. 

Fish caught in Maltese waters, it said, were illegally imported using documents from legal fishing and authorised farms. On the other hand, fish caught in Italian waters arrived in Spain without documents or inspections.

"Although most of the fish was caught in Malta and Italy, in Spanish waters there were also unauthorised catches, in this case, the illegally fished Bluefin tuna was transported in false bottoms under the deck of a vessel," Europol added.

It said this illegal Bluefin tuna market was up to 2.5 million kgs every year, double the annual volume of the legal trade.