Big Tuna Fishermen, Small Taxesff

They are the bane of ecologists and fishermen, and despite generating millions of liri in production, bluefin tuna farms give the island of Malta back a pittance in taxation.

With just Lm289,979 in tax from the industry in the last seven years, many are those who question the grounds on which tax benefits are afforded to fish farms.

Repeatedly accused of leaving harmful effects on marine ecology, fish farms have been responsible for endangering the long-term livelihood of fishermen and fragile ecosystems.

But in countries like Croatia, fish farms have been practically phased out in a bid to clean up their seas and increase tourism. So is it time to turn things around in Malta?
Down in Marsaskala, where former Nationalist MP Josie Muscat ran on an independent list to secure a council seat, the opposition to the fish farms located outside the seaside village has been loud.

Muscat has been vocal about the choice of the southern village for fish farms: “This town needs hotels and establishments which will enhance tourism. Another five fish farms are earmarked for siting at Marsaskala in March, bringing the total of farms up to nine. Sicily only has two farms. In Malta, it seems, everything goes.”

Such surprise at the ludicrous amount fish farms give back to the people is echoed elsewhere. Harry Vassallo, chairperson of Alternattiva Demokratika – the Green Party, says the government should now analyze the impact the industry has had on tourism, residents, and the environment balanced against the global tax revenue of Lm40,000 per annum and practically no employment contribution.

“At this point the country is wondering why we tolerate such a presence and the politicians that permit and encourage it should give a clear answer,” Vassallo says.
The acquaculture industry, which breeds sea bream (awrat) and sea bass (spnotta) benefits from incentives under the Business Production Act. They are the two main species farmed in Malta’s aquaculture industry, 95 per cent of which is aimed for the foreign market.

According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the total value of aquaculture production between 1998 and 2003 in Malta is USD34.3 million (12.4 million), an average of Lm2 million a year. Annual production increased a massive thirty times in the 1990s, from 60 tons in 1991 to peak of 1,800 in 1998 from six commercial farms.

The production of bluefin tuna has also increased dramatically: live tuna is brought by foreign purse seiners into the pens where they are fattened. Tuna fattening started in 2000 with one farm producing 300 tons a year. By 2003, production reached 3,550 tons between two farms. The tuna is then exported to Asian markets after harvesting the fattened fish.

Ivan Portanier, who once headed the national fishermen’s cooperative, and now works as a consultant to an aquaculture farm, says he does not believe fish farms pay a low amount of tax.

“The amount of tax quoted looks like it is only the amount being paid by the one or two aquaculture farms left, those producing gilt headed bream and sea bass. One must not forget that these farms were given tax holidays for the first few years of their operation and since then, some of them have closed down or switched to tuna penning,” Portanier says.

Fishermen don’t even seem to mind either. Ray Bugeja, the secretary of the national fishermen’s cooperative says not every fisherman may agree with the farms, but more fishermen are today working with them throughout part of the season. “It makes everything more stable,” he says.

But 2020, Bugeja says the EU calculates one out of every five fish will originate from a fish farm.

Portanier agrees. He says the industry complements the economic activities of fishermen. In the last two to three years, he says more fishermen have been actively engaged in tuna penning operations throughout the tuna season and tuna fattening period.

“They are readily stopping from going out to sea if they manage to secure employment with some farm or other, so it seems that these days tuna penning is working parallel with the local fishermen in the sense that what the fishermen are losing on the swings, they are gaining double on the roundabouts.”

Whether coastline localities can live with the increased concentration of farms is yet to be seen. Portanier says the area lying 6km outside Marsaskala will not be housing all tuna pens but those situated in the south of Malta. “It means tuna pens anchored about a kilometer offshore will now be moved out to the space allocated to them and this will help the localities to have more breathing space. As all pens will be grouped together, more supervision can be done to ascertain that no one will be in breach of the strict regulations which will be in force.”

Portanier stresses that “little or no” damage will be done to the seabed, claiming the stronger currents will be diluting and dispersing with the waste emanated from the tuna in cages. “From studies carried out on the seabed it has resulted that it is practically dead, with no fish in or around the site existing.”

Source: Malta Press