Government, EU reach agreement over Lampuki vessel patrols

The Maltese government has reached an agreement with fishing regulatory bodies to have a patrol boat inspecting Lampuki fishing grounds.

The patrols will be carried out through a pilot project conducted by the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) under the auspices of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM).

Lampuki fishing traces its roots back to Roman times, whose fishing techniques are still used to this very day.

Today, Malta’s various licensed fishermen are allocated a location out at sea through a lottery system. There they can lay out their apparatus, called ‘ċimi’ – a palm tree branch knotted with a floating jablo raft – which is then anchored to the seabed.

Lampuki fish proceed to seek shade under the large palm leaves, which is where fishermen, moving from one raft to the other, spot the fish and lay out a large fishing net which surrounds the resting fish. The net is then pulled into the boat, and in the process the catch is hauled in.

In 2019, MaltaToday had started reporting on how Maltese lampuki fishers had seen their catches plundered by Tunisian counterparts in what was a veritable war on the high seas. The Maltese say they were threatened by the Tunisians wielding machetes, threatening to set their boats alight with Molotov cocktails.

Fishers documented the presence of a large, green Tunisian vessel, nicknamed ‘the Bin Laden’, which threatened to ram Maltese boats.

Late last year, a group of Tunisian fishers were intercepted poaching Lampuki in Maltese waters. 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.

Despite the Tunisians claiming no wrongdoing, Maltese fishermen had insisted this was not true, as at around October lampuki fish move closer to shore, and are normally caught at around 40 nautical miles from land.

The fisheries ministry said that the European Union had 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).

Speaking to MaltaToday, a spokesperson for the fisheries ministry said the proposal to introduce the pilot project came after Malta’s participation in the GFCM pressed for better enforcement and control on such fishing.

“The agreement was reached in the last Annual Meeting of GFCM held in November 2021, following internal discussion in the European Union and with other partners in the Mediterranean Sea, headed by the same European Commission,” the spokesperson said. “In fact, together with the EU in the GFCM, it will be Malta’s position to work on a long-term management plan on dolphinfish fisheries in the central Mediterranean in the coming years.”

The ministry also said Malta is waiting for a positive confirmation response from EFCA to ensure European Union Maritime Safety inspectors will be aboard the EFCA patrol vessel to conduct the monitoring of fishing grounds and GFCM JDP (Joint Deployment Programme) inspections at sea.