A hearing at the Planning Authority on whether to approve an application to double the number of fish farm cages off Sikka l-Bajda in St. Paul’s Bay was today postponed, with this newsroom being informed that the reason for the postponement is the currently scandal involving fisheries director Andreina Fenech Farrugia.

The application had to be heard today in a PA board meeting, however prior to the start of the day’s proceedings a member of the board told those present that the discussion on this particular application would not be held today.  Asked when the discussion would instead be held, the board member said that no date had been assigned yet for the hearing.  No reason was given by the board for the postponement of the discussion.

This being said, this newsroom is informed that the hearing was postponed due to the scandal that is unfolding around Malta’s fisheries director Andreina Fenech Farrugia. 

The director was suspended from her post indefinitely after Spanish news outlet El Confidencial published transcripts that allegedly show how she asked Spanish tuna kingpin Jose Fuentes for payment.  The leaked transcripts also suggest that Fenech Farrugia was using her position to influence the environment ministry in favour of Fuentes, with whom she had a close relationship. Further transcripts show how Fenech Farrugia spoke to Fuentes about meetings with the “minister” and other “government officials”.

A ministry spokesperson told The Malta Independent however that neither Environment Minister Jose Herrera  nor Parliamentary Secretary Clint Camilleri had ever been directly or indirectly contacted by Fuentes.

Plans to double fish farm cages to ‘optimally support the tuna quota’

The proposal to double the amount of fish farm cages at this site is so to “ensure that the existing cage space is improved to optimally support the tuna quota,” the case officer said in his report on the application.

Currently, the site consists of two installations within close proximity of each other of six cages each. The proposal is to increase the total number of cages from 12 up to 24 as a temporary solution until the new north Aquaculture Zone is set up by the Fisheries Department.

The site is located East of, and approximately 5km away from the headland at Dahlet ix-Xilep and approximately 5.41km from the nearest headland at il-Ponta tal-Qawra. The proposed cages will be located adjacent to and on the inshore side of the existing cages, approximately 4.5 km from the headland at Dahlet ix-Xilep and approximately 4.8km from the nearest headland at il-Ponta tal-Qawra, hence putting them closer to the shore than what there already is in existence.

The site is located within a Natura 2000 site: Zona fil-Bahar fil-Grigal ta’ Malta designated as a Special Area of Conservation International Importance, and in fact an Environmental Impact Assessment carried out by ERA noted that there would be “significant impact” on and potential risks to the marine environment, avifauna and marine archaeology.

The environmental impact assessment concluded that the increase in cages would have a significant impact due to, among other things, an increase in oil pollution due to increase in maritime traffic in the area. It also mentions that a major significant impact is also envisaged on the benthic ecology of the area and a major to not significant impact on the area’s marine archaeology.

This being said, ERA concluded that the proposed development is unlikely to have significant residual impacts, taking into consideration the temporary nature of both the farm and the season of operations as a whole, along with the reversible nature of most of the impacts and the mitigation measures that the case officer had proposed.

“This conclusion is being made on the understanding that stringent mitigation measures and pre-emptive safeguards will be implemented throughout both deployment and operation of the fish farm. Conditions were included to ensure, among other things, that the integrity of the Natura 2000 site is maintained,” ERA said.

A large number of people have objected to the application, with one objector highlighting that an online Parliamentary petition against this application was even filed, with 1,865 Maltese residents having signed it.