The European Commission has opened infringement proceedings against Malta over its failure to comply with EU fisheries rules for Bluefin tuna.

According to the EU commission, Malta failed to ensure the presence of an effective monitoring, control and inspection system in Bluefin tuna farms. 

It said that several audit and verification missions carried out by European Commission officials had identified a number of serious shortcomings, including failure to allow access to inspectors to waters under Maltese jurisdiction during a specific control and inspection programme. 

According to the infringement proceedings, Malta had also delayed investigations, had limited the number of random control checks and had also failed to sanction operators.

Local producers say proceedings are 'unfair' 

But the chief executive officer of the Federation of Maltese Aquaculture Producers (FMAP), Charlon Gouder, said when contacted that the contents of the infringement proceedings were “unfair”. 

“It is unfair, to say the least, that we get accused of something that never happened. No operator ever stopped any official, be it from the local fisheries department or from the EU, from making his or her own verifications. We always collaborated and that is what we will continue doing because it is also in our interest,” he said. 

He continued: “There were times when the control visits took place at a very critical time for the industry, when we were very busy with preparations or at the height of the season, but we never turned our back on them. We always collaborated.”

The Commission accused Malta of not taking the necessary steps to address the deficiencies that had been pointed out to it and gave the country four months to address the shortcomings raised. In the absence, the European Commission will step up the action with a reasoned opinion.

Gouder said Malta’s bluefin tuna operators had an excellent reputation within the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas. 

Earlier this year, local bluefin tuna operators proposed measures to cut down on seafood fraud and argued that they should be allowed to self-regulate them. 

The operators said they wanted to introduce a penalty point system for any stakeholder involved in the sale of tuna, including hotels, restaurants and fishmongers, as a measure to deter fraud. 

They also want to speed up the process of investigating anyone caught with large quantities of fish, with sanctions for anyone guilty of administrative breaches which fall short of a criminal offence.