Updated | Fishermen out in droves in protest against minister

Some 500 members from the fishing community are out braving the rainy weather in protest at the fisheries management plan and rural affairs minister George Pullicino.

The protestors held up a banner accusing Pullicino of arrogance and accused him of leaving fishermen without a job in 2012.

They are claiming that Pullicino did not consult them on the fisheries management plan, and that the minister was hostile towards the representatives of the fishing community.

"No scientific studies were carried out on the fisheries management plan. We should be at the second phase of the plan where scientists and fishermen are in consultation," cooperative president Ray Bugeja said.

Bugeja said government was even returning the sum of €40,000 to the European Union, which are the salaries the ministry had to pay two managers to steward the fisheries management plan.

Minister Pullicino wrote to the two main fishing cooperatives on 19 December saying it was not true that they had been ignored during a consultation meeting held on 12 December.

Fishermen claim that trawlers will not be able to work for more than 150 days, but the ministry is saying this will be a regional limitation imposed upon Tunisia, Libya, Italy and Cyprus.

The ministry is also denying it will scrap trawler boats, and that this will only happen if there is EU compensation. An answer from the European Commission is still pending on this matter.

The ministry also denied that purse seiners will be banned, and that it is proposing that a scientific study is carried out based on information provided by fishermen themselves in a bid to create a sustainable fishing programme.

Fishermen are also claiming they will lose 60% in income from limitations on swordfish fishing. Current rules set by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas ban the fishing of smaller size fish, which generally constitute 40% of the fish caught.

Malta is also the only country that has opposed the closure of an additional month in swordfish fishing, but this proposal passed through the support of other ICCAT members.

Fishermen are also protesting the limit of 38 tuna vessels, which was fixed by the ICCAT in 2009.

In a reaction, the rural affairs ministry said it was evaluating proposals it had received from the cooperatives.

The ministry said that since Malta entered the EU in 2004, the local fisheries had benefited from €11 million in EU funds and €4 million in national funds, apart from other cash though state aid schemes.

The ministry is still waiting for the European Commission's formal comments on its fisheries management plan.

It also said that every decision on fisheries was only possible within the framework of the rules of the EU's common fisheries policy and other international bodies such as ICCAT and the GFCM.