The Directorate of Environmental Health issued a statement on Monday afternoon saying that, following yesterday's stormy weather, and after various inspections carried out during the day, a number of fish which were being put up for sale have been confiscated.

Yesterday, images were appearing up on social media exhibiting individuals in Xemxija, not only risking their wellbeing to catch a few fish that washed ashore, but also went as far as selling them.

The Directorate pointed out that the safety of such fish cannot be guaranteed for various reasons.

"First of all, information on the origin of said fish is not available as well as whether such fish was already dead or not when caught." 

"If the fish was already dead there is a possibility that the fish may have been spoiled which also means that it can possibly lead to scombrotoxic fish poisoning due to high histamine levels."

"Secondly, farmed fish may have been on medical treatments and are only considered safe once the withdrawal period is exceeded. The fish may also have been kept in unsanitary conditions and collected from roads, hence exposing the same fish to other possible health hazards. This was the result of a freak storm, complete with torrential rain and gale force winds, which hit the island from Saturday evening, all the way through Sunday. The storm was reported to have damaged a fish farm and this resulted in hundreds of fish washing up on various bays and streets on the Maltese coastline."

"There was even an evacuation order for people living in the Balluta / St Julians area as the waves were enveloping the whole of the street. One man was fortunate enough to be pulled out of the water by someone close-by after he was pulled into the sea by the oncoming waves."