Marco Carabott, president of the National Fisheries Cooperative has insisted that there is no rift with coop secretary Raymond Bugeja, who last week insisted at a news conference that the Marsaxlokk port is not safe and later presented an official letter against the LNG tanker in his own personal capacity.

When contacted by The Malta Independent, both Mr Carabott and Mr Bugeja insisted that there are no disagreements between them and said that media reports have given the wrong impression.

Mr Bugeja addressed a news conference at the coop’s office in Marsaxlokk a few days ago. The subject was about broken pre-electoral promises. But the LNG tanker dominated the news headlines after the subject was, inevitably, brought up by journalists.

A few days later, Ray Bugeja and his wife presented an official letter in court asking for MEPA to postpone its hearing on the power station permits until after a Maritime Impact Assessment is done. Mr Bugeja and his wife presented the letter in their own personal capacity. They were represented by maritime lawyer and PN president Ann Fenech.

Mr Bugeja’s actions drew the media’s attention, but so did a letter sent to the media by coop president Marco Carabott. In the letter he said that the National Fisheries Coop was disassociating itself from Mr Bugeja’s comments. Mr Carabott also claimed that Mr Bugeja was not authorised by the board and the members to speak on the LNG project, which was not the subject of the news conference. The interpretation of Mr Carabott’s letter by some sections of the media implied that there was some kind of rift between the two men, but in comments to The Malta Independent yesterday Mr Carabott insisted that this was not the case.

Coop has no official position on LNG tanker

“We never said that Mr Bugeja’s comments were incorrect, we just wanted to make it clear that he was giving his personal opinion, and not that of the cooperative. I am not saying that what he did was wrong.” Mr Carabott said that some sections of the media might have given the wrong impression. He said that the matter would likely be discussed at a closed cooperative meeting held yesterday evening.

He also pointed out that he attended the MEPA board meeting on Monday to see how his and Mr Bugeja’s letters would be interpreted but he did not speak during the meeting.

 Mr Carabott explained that the coop agrees with the gas power station project “like most Maltese,” but it does not have an official position on the Floating Storage Unit, which is the main point of divergence between the government and the Opposition. “We never said that we were in favour or against the FSU.”

‘No one objected to what I said’ - Bugeja

The Malta Independent also contacted Ray Bugeja for his version. Mr Bugeja said he did not take umbrage at Mr Carabott’s letter, who simply wanted to clarify the issue. He also insisted that the scheduled news conference had been taken over by the tanker issue but insisted that he had spoken in the cooperative’s name. “I addressed the news conference as the secretary and I answered the journalists’ questions as secretary. Members of the board were present for the news conference and no one objected to what I said. Later that day we had a meeting and no one raised the issue. More importantly, no one is questioning the claim that Marsaxlokk is not a safe port.”

Fishermen ‘in the dark’ over project impact

In the meantime, when asked to share his personal thoughts on the LNG tanker, Marco Carabott said that he has not yet formed an opinion because the information needed to do so does not exist. “I cannot answer that question for a number of reasons. There has been much talk over whether the ship should be moored in Marsaxlokk bay or out at sea but I do not know which option would have the biggest impact on fishermen.” When asked if he agreed that a Maritime Impact Assessment is needed, Mr Carabott said that a fisheries assessment would be more useful. “For the time being we are in the dark and it is difficult to form an opinion.”

In the meantime Mr Carabott and Mr Bugeja today issued a press release calling on the government to consider a breakwater in Marsaxlokk.

http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-03-27/news/fishermen-demand-breakwater-at-marsaxlokk-4401004545/