Tunisian poachers are hardened sea dogs frequently spotted by Maltese

A crew of Tunisian fishers who were finally intercepted inside Maltese waters poaching the quarry of lampuki fishers, are still claiming they did nothing wrong despite pleading guilty in court.

In Marsa where their boats were arrested at the docks, the crews of captains Khnissi Khemais, 41, and Belware Mohammed Ali, 39, cut an uncompromising figure as they awaited their release back home to Sfax, in Tunisia.

For years now, fishers like these have been accused by Maltese fishers of poaching on their lampuki lines.

The two Tunisian fishing vessels arrested by the Maltese army in October 2021, berthed at a Maltese dock.

“We were fishing off Lampedusa, and we had some issues with our GPS, and our boats ended up drifting into the Gozitan sea,” they claimed with MaltaToday.

Last week, the AFM intercepted the two vessels inside Malta’s Fisheries Conservation and Management Zone. Both ship captains were fined €10,000 each, accused of failing to inform Maltese officials of the amounts and descriptions of the fish aboard the vessel before entering Maltese fishing waters and failing to give three days prior notice of their plans to enter Malta.

But the captains refused to obey the army’s orders, with reinforcements being called in during the operation.

This is the most illustrative yet of the fight between Tunisian poachers and Maltese fishers, a story that has been dragging on for years on the high seas and the Maltese fishing grounds. Lampuki fishers say their long lines are regularly poached by the Tunisian crews, most of them armed, who effectively double up as pirates as they steal their quarry.

“This was all a mistake,” one of the fishers told MaltaToday. “We were fishing as we normally do, and they came for us.” They also denied disobeying the AFM’s orders, saying they did as instructed. Their fines paid off, and their fish and nets confiscated by the Maltese authorities, the boats returned to the high seas on Friday.

But there is no doubt that these men are hardened sea dogs whose attempt to poach inside Maltese fishing grounds has been thwarted by the efforts of Malta’s armed forces, which are now patrolling these waters for rogue crews.

In 2019, MaltaToday had reported how Maltese lampuki fishers seen their catches plundered by Tunisian counterparts in a veritable war on the high seas.

The Maltese sau they have been threatened by the Tunisians wielding machetes and threatened to set their boats alight with Molotov cocktails. Fishers documented the presence of a large, green Tunisian vessel, nicknamed Bin Laden, which threatens to ram Maltese boats. One of the boats arrested in Malta resembles the make of the ‘Bin Laden’.

Speaking to MaltaToday on condition of anonymity over fears they might face repercussions by the Tunisian fishermen when out at sea, lampuki fishers insist the same intercepted vessels are among those who were harassing fishers. “They would try to burn our boats or cut free the kannizzati. That green vessel tried to ram me a couple of times,” one of the fishers told this newspaper when shown a photo of the intercepted boats. “He tried to drive over us time and time again when we told them to leave our kannizzati.”

He also said their claims that a GPS malfunction led them astray into Maltese water could not be true. “Since the storm we had a couple of weeks ago, the visibility was so clear we could see land from 40 miles away. What they are claiming are absolute lies,” he said.

The fisher said at this time of the year, lampuki fish move closer to shore, and are normally caught at around 40 nautical miles from land.

This makes their claims even more untenable…. Even their claims that they are using their own fishing apparatus are untrue, especially after the storm. Their kannizzati are of very low quality, and the storm would have dragged everything away,” he said.

The Tunisian fishers’ poaching on Maltese fishing grounds have deleterious effects for the Maltese: in Tunisia, the lampuki sells at €5 a kilo; in Malta, lampuki at the start of September was retailing at a higher-than-usual €8.50 per kilo.

The Maltese say the Tunisians also tend to fish lower-quality lampuki. “We take care of the fish we catch, so it retains that bright colouring and quality. On the other hand, Tunisians just chuck the fish into a tank, and end up spoiling the fish.”

Fisheries ministry: EU has Malta’s back

The fisheries ministry said that the European Union has recognised the issue concerning Tunisian fishermen during the 2019 General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) meeting, and gave its recommendations with regards to the lampuki netting (kannizzati).

The Maltese government has since sent verified detailed reports provided by the fishermen, and asked for the lampuki fishing to be part of the Joint Inspection Scheme by the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA).

“This means that the EFCA will be sending patrol vessels and inspectors from each country under the GFCM and will coordinate monitoring and inspections. The Maltese fisherman’s interests in international waters will be safeguarded,” the ministry told MaltaToday.

While Malta had sent all the necessary information to the EU, but this was not done by the Tunisian counterparts. “These discussions led to the EU proposing new recommendations which will be adopted in a pilot inspection programme.”

The EU is expected to propose a document for a code of conduct between all parties in the GFCM, including Tunisia.