Tunisia, Libya, Malta Extend Their Bluefin Fisheries Zoneff

The government of Malta is considering extending Malta’s exclusive fishing zone in view of the decisions taken by Libya and Tunisia to extend their own zones, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Tonio Borg announced earlier this week.

He said the government would act by legal notice if Parliament was not in session during the summer.

He was speaking at a sitting of the Parliamentary Committee for the Consideration of Bills. Opposition Deputy Leader Charles Mangion immediately suggested a sitting in the full Parliament before the summer recess, saying the government would have the support of the Opposition and the country would be able to show it was united on this issue.

Dr. Borg said that foreign fishermen who could not Bluefin tuna in Libyan and Tunisian waters, because of the zones declared by those countries, were coming to Maltese waters instead.

This would be stopped if Malta also extended its own fisheries zone, he said.

The two sides then agreed that, if possible, the first reading of a Bill on the Maltese fishing zone would be now given by the House, with the legislative process being completed before the recess.

Tunisia decided to extend its fishing zone in a sitting of its Parliament on June 21, dealing a fresh blow to Maltese fishermen who have already been excluded from traditional fishing grounds off Libya.

The Tunisian decision was raised during a recent Cabinet meeting. Foreign Minister Michael Frendo told The Times afterwards that the government was in close contact with the Tunisian authorities and was keeping all its options open.

“We have been assured by the Tunisians that they will act in terms of the law of the sea and whatever will happen will be in the context of the good relations between Malta and Tunisia,” he said.

He told the European and Foreign Affairs committee in the evening that although an enabling act had been approved by the Tunisian Parliament, this was not yet being implemented.

Dr. Frendo and Environment Minister George Pullicino held a separate meeting later in the evening to discuss the possible repercussions on Maltese tuna fishermen.

A report in a Tunisian daily newspaper said Parliament had given its go-ahead to a zone that went beyond territorial waters but which fell under national jurisdiction and through which, for example, entry to polluting ships could be prohibited.

Improved business links between Libya and Tunisia in bluefin tuna ranching and tuna-fattening business were highlighted recently in Tunisian press reports. The two North African countries signed a cooperation agreement last May making it possible for the two nations to strike private partnerships in the fisheries and tuna fattening industry.

The Maltese fishermen are already at loggerheads with the Libyan authorities who declared a 62-mile conservation zone that effectively bans them from traditional fishing grounds. Though it made the announcement two months ago, Libya has still not provided the exact coordinates of the limits of its zone.