The never-ending story

Alex Buttigieg (October 4) challenged us to release a picture of one of our fish-farm nets and the seabed below it. Here they are. One picture shows the area directly beneath a fish cage in St Paul's Bay, in which a World War II bomb can be seen covered with sea urchins.

This is clearly free of the "muck" that Mr Buttigieg speaks of.

We have already pointed out that the sediment Mr Buttigieg mentions pre-dates our fish farm operation. This is noted in a survey commissioned before we started up.

The St Paul's Bay area is the catchment for two heavily-farmed valleys. Significant quantities of material, including fertilisers and pesticides, have been reaching the sea for many years; because of the topographical and hydrological features of the bay it is very likely that St Paul's Islands act as a natural sedimentation area. This could explain the widespread presence of silt prior to the start of the fish farming operation.

The photograph carried in The Times (October 4) was captioned "Muck covering the sea grass about 200 metres away from the nets". This is wrong and, hence, misleading. The picture shows only a rope covered in algae growth, directly beneath one of our cages. Readers have been misled into thinking that the area is 200 metres from the cages rather than directly beneath one of them.

Several independent benthic surveys carried out on our sites indicate that there is an impact on flora and fauna directly beneath the cages. The studies conclude that a few metres away this disappears and a beneficial effect is registered, with an actual flourishing of sea life in the area. Mr Buttigieg's claim that our fish farm damages sea grass at a distance of 200 metres is therefore wrong.

Studies also indicate that it is impossible to identify farm wastes except directly under the cages due to significant effects of other outflows, such as sewage.

The picture of a "fouled net" accompanying Mr Buttigieg's piece simply shows the natural growth of algae and fungi on a twine cage-net suspended in the sea.

Any experienced diver would recognise this growth for what it is, because it is exactly the same natural substance that accumulates on mooring-ropes, buoys, untreated boat hulls, or other items left in the sea. That is why anti-fouling is used on hulls. Ironically, this very picture proves our point that we do not use anti-fouling treatment on our netting, as it is a pollutant.

As to Mr Buttigieg's claim about visibility in the water, he should know that visibility depends on weather conditions. This much should be obvious. We have several scientific survey results which disprove his unsubstantiated claim of six-metre visibility. Similarly, our constant water analysis does not reveal any changes in the water column, the precursor of sea pollution.

We have spoken to serious and professional dive operators who are members of the Divers' Association and they are not in agreement with the claims made by Mr Buttigieg. He should make it clear that he speaks for himself.

The area occupied by Pisciculture Marine de Malte Ltd was never a dive site. It is a private concession rented to us by the government of Malta to be used exclusively for the business of fish farming. We continue to operate in a responsible and respectful manner, especially towards others who, like us, earn their living from the sea.

The concrete statue of Christ was placed close to St Paul's Islands in May 1990 to mark the visit of Pope John Paul II. It has nothing to do with diving activities and was not placed there as an attraction to divers. It simply marks the spot where St Paul is thought to have been shipwrecked and it has been moved to an established dive site in Qawra to act as an added attraction.

In his attempts at misleading "lay" readers, Mr Buttigieg makes himself ridiculous in the eyes of anyone who operates at sea. We shall give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest that he is misinformed.