Nationalist MEP Peter Agius has said the government failed to protect Maltese lampuki catches despite knowing about illegal fishing in Sicily and Tunisia since last year.

“Government is failing to use EU tools to protect Maltese fisheries and the livelihood of our fishermen,” Agius said on Saturday.

Agius referred to a reply by European Commissioner for Fisheries Kostas Kadis to his parliamentary question about scarce lampuki catches in Malta due to the unfair application of new EU rules.

The commissioner said that while the European Commission had received reports of unmarked Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) at sea, it had not received any reports of fishing vessels targeting dolphinfish with FADs outside the authorised period from the European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) or from national control authorities.

“This goes beyond fisheries. Last year we had 160 tonnes less lampuki caught and consumed in Malta, depriving our families from a relatively economic, sustainable and local food source. At this rate we’ll soon be importing also our lampuki from Sicily and elsewhere like we do for 75% of all other foodstuffs,” Agius said.

The commissioner added that only reports from the Maltese fisheries control authorities can trigger enforcement under the EU regulation. 

Agius said this shows the government did not report the illegal fishing to Brussels, missing the chance to defend Maltese fishermen.

He warned that the situation is damaging both the fishing industry and Maltese consumers, who are losing access to affordable and sustainable local fish.

Lampuki fishing in the Mediterranean is only allowed from 15 August to 31 December, and any fishing carried out outside the season is in breach of General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) regulation.

Earlier this week, Labour MEP Thomas Bajada called for urgent action by the European Commission over illegal lampuki fishing by Italian and Tunisian fishermen.

Bajada said recent social media footage, publicly shared by Tunisian and Italian fishers as early as 25 July, appeared to depict active fishing and possible commercialisation of lampuki in the closed season.

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