Ms. Vella said Bicref was worried by the lack of inspections and effective implementation of measures to protect Malta's marine environment.
"These dead fish may be agents of disease that may spread to different marine organisms with wide reaching impacts on our marine ecosystems and resources," Bicref said. "For this reason it is hoped that such a finding will be investigated by the relevant authorities."
It said that in the past it reported similar wide reaching effects of what it said were coastal developments, such as tuna pens. These, it said, illustrated the spread of organic and smelly substance out of the tuna pens for kilometers around, according to the direction of the sea current.
Bicref said it also took note of several dead and decaying bluefin tuna strandings along the Maltese coasts, which peaked last September and October.
Considering all this, Bicref said, one wondered if simply moving all aquaculture activities to one corner of the islands would solve these problems and whether environmental impact assessments and the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had ever took into account the wider side-effects these developments would have on marine life and the people's quality of life.
The environment minister Mr. Pullicino said the activities of the fish farms, blamed by Dr. Vella for the dead fish, were regularly monitored by a company which was awarded a tender by Mepa. The company was paid for through funds from the fish farm operators as part of their license conditions.
Mr. Pullicino said that fish used as feed at the tuna farms sank and the fact that the fish noted by Dr. Vella were floating indicated they have been fish killed through fishing using explosives near the sewage outfall.
The minister said fish farms were currently sited some one-kilometer off the coast, but it was the government's intention to set up an aquaculture zone some six kilometers off the coast in stronger currents which would ensure that any waste was washed away from the coast.
In this way the coastal environment would be improved.
Mepa also issued a statement pointing out that it had not received any reports on the case mentioned by Dr. Vella. It said that although time had elapsed since the dead fish were seen in the bay, its officials yesterday still went on the spot but saw no indication of dead fish whatsoever. It said it was important that such cases were reported to it as soon as possible.
Mepa said it had no idea what could have caused the wave of dead fish but it could have been caused by a number of factors including illegal fishing with the use of dynamite.
This activity was known to take place in this area as the fish collected in the area of the sewage outfall. Since the fish normally used as feed at fish farms would still be fresh from the freezer this normally fell to the seabed and dead fish which floated was typically the result of dynamite fishing.
The authority said that tuna farms were all currently more than one kilometer away from the coast and the government's proposal for an aquaculture zone six kilometers off the coast would move them further away placing them in currents which would keep them cleaner and improve the quality of the environment and the coast.