Fishermen's cooperatives sign tuna export contract

Maltese fishermen will this year for the first time use purse seine nets to fish for tuna, Fisheries Minister Ninu Zammit said yesterday.

Traditionally, Maltese fishermen have used long lines, knuz, to catch tuna. Purse seines are nets that may be drawn into the shape of a bag for catching shoal fish.

Last year about 200 tons of tuna were landed at the fish market in Valletta. The season extends between May 1 and July 15.

The quota for Malta is 300 tons, decided by the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna and meant to preserve dwindling tuna stocks.

The department of fisheries has decided that as a trial, only 50 tons of tuna will this season be fished with purse seines. Fishermen will have to team up to use purse seines.

Mr Zammit was speaking during the signing of an export agreement for tuna catches with the two fishing cooperatives - the National Fisheries Cooperative Ltd and the Ghaqda Koperattiva tas-Sajd Ltd on one side and Charles Azzopardi of Azzopardi Fisheries as the exporter on the other.

The two cooperatives together issued an international tender to sell their tuna catches and Azzopardi Fisheries won the bid amid competition from Italian and Spanish firms.

The guaranteed prices obtained this year per kilo of tuna for fishermen is Lm2.75 in May and Lm2.25 for the rest of the season. Belly meat will fetch Lm4 per kilo.

Fisheries director Anthony Gruppetta said belly meat was the favourite part of the tuna in Asian countries because of the high oil content - the very reason that belly meat is shunned by the Maltese.

He said the use of purse seines was a pilot project and, if successful, it could be that Maltese fishermen would ultimately give up long lines.

Dr Gruppetta said that tuna weighing less than 6.4 kilos cannot be landed. Using eco sounders and other electronic equipment, fishermen would be able to know the quantity of fish they have in their purse seines before they pull the catch on board.

Dr Gruppetta explained that once the quota is reached no more tuna will be allowed ashore. Officers from the excise and duty office keep an audit trail of tuna catches, he said.

Mr Zammit said there would be no levy on tuna exports if Malta joins the EU.

NFC secretary Ray Bugeja said a one-kilometre-long purse seine would cost about E200,000, not to mention the equipment needed to use this type of net. "There are at the most only two trawlers that are big enough to use such nets.

"The drawbacks of this fishing method include the high capital investment and, if the season is poor, fishermen who decide to use purse seines will not be able to revert to long lines during the same season," Mr Bugeja said.

Mr Azzopardi said last year his company exported 175 tons and another 25 tons were sold locally.

Tuna can grow up to 350 kilos. Long lines consist of between 1,500 and 2,500 hooks baited either with mackerel or squid.

At the start of the season fishermen will sail out to between 20 miles and 30 miles offshore but later on will have to venture out up to 80 miles offshore.

Azzopardi Fisheries, which also manages the tuna pens off Qawra point, exports tuna to Korea through the firm Jeong Pil Co. Ltd of Pusan, Korea. The Korean company is a partner in the tuna penning project off Qawra with Azzopardi Fisheries.