Azzopardi Fisheries wants to double its tuna cages

Azzopardi Fisheries has applied to double the number of tuna cages at Sikka l-Bajda from 12 to 26 while insisting it will not be increasing the number of fish held in the pens.

The company is saying that the larger number of cages will hold 2,200 tonnes of tuna, which is the amount harvested in 2017. Azzopardi said the reason for doubling the number of cages is to ensure that the tuna fish have sufficient space to allow them to reach optimal size before they are killed.

The Sikka l-Bajda, off the Mellieha coast, is a temporary site approved by the Planning Authority last year until a permanent location is identified for an aquaculture zone for the north of Malta.

The Environment and Resources Authority has obliged Azzopardi Fisheries to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment for the new development. A public consultation is being held to identify the terms of reference for the requested study. The consultation period closes on 11 March.

In this way two parallel studies will be carried out; one for the permanent aquaculture zone and one for the temporary one.

The decision to relocate the tuna pens from Comino and St Paul’s Bay was taken amidst national outrage on reports of sea sludge polluting the Maltese coast line. The temporary location is within two designated marine Natura 2000 sites.

In response to a parliamentary question last week, Environment Minister Jose Herrera confirmed that 10 illegal tuna pens were discovered on the St Paul’s Bay fish farm, and that orders were given for the cages to be removed.

Subsequently Democratic Party MP Godfrey Farrugia claimed that aerial photographs taken on Thursday morning proved that action to remove illegal tuna pens was not taken.

All 24 cages proposed by Azzopardi Fisheries will have a 50-metre diameter and a depth of 42 metres.

The total biomass permitted by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) for AJD Tuna Ltd and Malta Mariculture Limited - the operating companies that belong to Azzopardi Fisheries - is 3,300 tonnes.

What will change according to documentation submitted by Azzopardi Fisheries is the stocking density in each cage.

As a result of doubling the number of cages the stocking density per cage at the site will decrease from the current 275 tonnes to 138 tonnes.

The current maximum stocking density recommended by ICCAT for a 50 m diameter cage is 200 tonnes.

A project description statement submitted by AJD Tuna claims that the stocking density of the fish in the cages has “an important bearing on mortality and the quality of the fish produced”.

The document reveals that tuna pens generate an average of between 8 and 10 tonnes of fish remains per day. Known as offal, the initial policy was to incinerate this waste. However, the incinerator at the abattoir in Marsa does not have the capacity to process the amount of waste generated and no longer accepts it and is therefore dumped at sea on a site approved by the Fisheries Department.

The documents refer to a 2012 survey, which refers to reports of large whole dead tunas and decomposing parts on the seabed. AJD Tuna Ltd blamed amateur fishermen that angle around or in the vicinity of the fish farms for these deaths.

How tuna is penned

Tuna are caught by purse seining on the high seas  by foreign vessels from whom AJD Tuna Ltd purchases its stock. The tuna caught in the purse seines normally range in size from 50 to 300 kgs, with the vast majority of the fish being between 100 and 200 kg.

Once on the farm, the tuna are fed and fattened through a high fat diet. The tuna are kept in the pens for between 3 and 7 months, after which they are killed and sold to the Japanese market.