The government has launched a pilot project to regulate a very old Maltese fishing tradition called l-Imrejkba.

It is calling on fishers to document every catch in a logbook that they must return to the department of fisheries and aquaculture at the end of each month.

This way, the authorities may ensure a sustainable, long future for the tradition, fisheries Parliamentary Secretary Alicia Bugeja Said said in a press conference on Tuesday.

L-Imrejkba is a fishing method that was invented by Maltese and Gozitan fishing amateurs some generations back. It allows them to catch fish from land without using a fishing rod.

How does l-imrejkba work?

Fishers fix three two-foot-long reeds in the form of a triangle. Another reed is fixed in the middle, on top of which a small, thin pole is inserted. A small, bright-coloured piece of cloth is then winched to the pole.

Around 40 fish hooks (and sometimes 80), are then attached along the reeds.

L-Imrejkba is then lowered into the water, and is let to drift along the coast, with its triangular shape giving it streamlined qualities and with the cloth acting as a small sail. It catches fish as it drifts.

What are the new rules for l-imrejkba?

During the press conference, for which many amateur fishers were present, the Parliamentary Secretary and staff from the fisheries and aquaculture department explained what the new rules are.

Fishers may only practice L-Imrejkba from land in a number of specified locations, and not from boats. They cannot practice it in swimming zones and they must not let L-Imrejkba drift farther than 250 metres away from the edge of the coast. This is to ensure that it does not interfere with swimmers, boats, and other fishers' operations.

They must then log the date, time, the kind of fishing practice they used, what species of fish they caught, their weight and the exact coordinates of where they caught them in a logbook provided by the department. They must then return the logbook to the authorities at the end of the month.

The pilot project will be open for a year, during which the department will be monitoring catches to ensure sustainable fish populations.

"It is a beautiful tradition which thousands of fishers practice. And in a country where we have a lot of fishing activity, it is wise to assess the stocks and be able to plan for future sustainable fishing," Alicia Bugeja Said told Times of Malta.

During the press conference, for which many amateur fishers were present, the authorities explained the new rules. PHOTO: DOI - Clifton Fenech.

She said all of Malta's fishing activity adds up to only 0.2 percent of all fishing activity in the Mediterranean, and amateur fishers who practice L-Imrejkba are among the fishers that register the smaller catches. But the government felt the need to regulate the tradition anyway, to be in line with EU laws.

The department for fisheries and aquaculture said it has been drafting the pilot project for a year, during which it consulted the fishers themselves, Transport Malta, Heritage Malta, and the Professional Diving Schools Association.

The fishers were also told L-Imrejkba must now sport a registration number, attached to the cloth and must have a flashing red light attached to it.