This summer’s price rise of the juvenile fish known as makku has intensified fears over the future of seasonal fish fritters – traditionally known as pulpetti tal-makku – as well as of the artisanal fishermen that catch the fish.

Rodney Cauchi, of Rodney’s Fish Shop, a fishmonger in Mosta, told Times of Malta after the close of this year’s season a few days ago that the fry had reached €20 per kilo this year, the highest he has known it.

“It’s eagerly awaited by our customers,” he said.

“But this year the price was so high that I didn’t make any profit from its sale.”

Studies into fishery overexploitation show that spikes in prices can be a sign of a fishery’s impending economic collapse.

This chimes with industry talk of fatigue among fishermen after the opening of the makku fishing season has been cut short for nine years running: the opening of the season was pushed back from mid-May to June 25, closing on August 15.

Makku is the Maltese name for transparent goby, which grows to the size of a cigarette. Shoals in shallow bays are caught in handheld purse seine nets that close at the bottom by a drawstring while being drawn in. Although not specifically targeted, juvenile bogue (vopa) makes up part of the catch. 

Fisheries expert Alicia Said wrote to the Fisheries Department last April to say that restrictions were “suffocating the economic sustainability of the [artisanal] fishermen”.

The price of makku was very high this year, not a good sign for the future of traditional fritters made with fresh catch.

Originally, the department had cited EU requirements for the partial closure of the season but this was dismissed as a fallacy by fishermen’s representatives. The department’s talk then shifted to the need for conservation of bogue.

However, Paul Piscopo, chief of the Għaqda Kooperattiva tas-Sajd (the fishing cooperative), was scathing of the government’s reasoning when contacted. 

Doesn’t make sense to close the initial stretch of the season

“There is nothing in conventions or [EU] laws that stipulate controls and there was never an issue with biomass of makku,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to close the initial stretch of the season.”

Dr Said said: “Catches of bogue in other fisheries have remained abundant.

“So shortening the season hasn’t done anything for the species, it has just dealt a blow to artisanal fishery. This is especially because makku fetches better prices early in the season.”

Imported, frozen bags of fry are now found in supermarkets and fishmongers, but Mr Cauchi said that fresh makku is much better in quality. 

Dr Said said the Fisheries Department had misguidedly put the makku fishery on administrative par with larger-scale fisheries of dolphin fish, swordfish, tuna and the mechanically-operated, light-assisted purse seine lampara fishery.

That laid the way for heightened EU-mandated scrutiny and control. But EU regulations make an exception for purse seines drawn by hand, she said. 

“It’s a fishing tradition that runs in a few families. Drawing the seine by hand is strenuous and the money is not great: you can earn about €60, perhaps up to €100 if it’s a good day. So the greater the conditions you impose, the greater the chance of fishermen abandoning the fishery,” she added.

Makku fishermen also complain that while they have lost the best part of the season purportedly to conservation measures, other fishers have been allowed to continue to fish for adult bogue in the same waters, catching adult females prior to and during spawning.

The lampara fleet has grown from a handful of vessels prior to the country’s accession to the European Union to 14 launches at present.

Adult bogue are caught in the lampara fishery all year round, whose mechanically-operated purse seine nets scoop up fishes in large quantities.

In 2009, the year prior to the shortening of the makku season, catches of makku (goby and bogue) amounted to 399 kilogrammes, while bogue caught in lampara fishery stood at 2,990 kilogrammes.

Proposal for full makku season

The price of makku was very high this year, not a good sign for the future of traditional fritters made with fresh catch.

Last April, Alicia Said and Malcolm Borg, on behalf of the Malta Small-scale Fisheries Network (MSFN), presented a proposal to the department to re-open the full makku fishing season in a five-year pilot project.

Although officials expressed no opposition to the catching of makku, they spoke of a Maltese law prohibiting catching of juvenile bogue below a certain size, which make up part of the catch in the first month of the traditional makku season.

“In principle it’s better to let the bogue grow and then you get a higher yield,” Dr Said explained.

“But in this case bogue is abundant, the amounts caught are small and the closed season has caused a disproportionate socio-economic impact. Sustainability rests on three principles – ecological, social and economic considerations – but the department seems to be taking a narrow perspective.”

MSFN’s proposal is based on a concept that’s abuzz in European fisheries, known as maximum sustainable yield, in which fisheries are considered holistically and leeway is allowed for artisanal fishermen even if not in strict adherence to ecological creed.

In the proposed pilot project, the season would be fully re-opened and a study would be conducted on all “combined fishing of bogue”. The organisation ‘Low Impact Fishers of Europe’, which represents small-scale fishermen in the EU, is willing to assist and provide funds for “a stock assessment that would take into account catches of bogue in all fisheries”.

Fisheries officials present in the meeting with MSFN last April, including representatives from the secretariat of Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri, agreed to hold internal discussions on the proposal.

However, the officials have not replied to a follow-up e-mail by MSFN a few weeks later.

The Times of Malta also wrote to the Environmental Minister and Parliamentary Secretary responsible for fisheries twice last May and June. However, no answers were received.