Large scale or industrial fishing operations, in general, have impacted the environment negatively, yet tend to be protected by national and EU legislation as they have a stronger lobby and are seen as more economically viable, according to Maltese NGO fish4tomorrow.

“From our research we have found that most small scale fishing operations have less of an impact on the environment and on fish stocks,” said JD Farrugia, director of fish4tomorrow, in comments to The Malta Independent.  “We feel that (the view on large scale enterprises) is quite short sighted and more emphasis should be placed on the importance of sustainable, smaller scale operations,” he continued.  ‘Fish4tomorrow’ is an NGO whose main aim is to promote environmentally sustainable fishing and fish consumption.

Feedback from fish4tomorrow was requested in the light of MEP Alfred Sant’s recent criticism of the European Union’s resolution titled ‘Union framework for the collection, management and use of data in the fisheries sector’, where he felt that the directives curtailed the livelihood and future of Maltese and Gozitan traditional fishermen.

“EU directives applied at national level requiring a cull of fishermen’s fleets have further loaded the dice against traditional fishermen as contrasted to larger scale enterprises,” said Dr Sant. “Data relating to how catches were developing ended up skewed in favour of the larger scale enterprises. This is unfair”.

The European Representation Commission disapproved of the comments, calling them ‘false’. It said efforts have led to the recovery of Bluefin tuna and quotas are the ‘responsibility of the member state’. “Malta can decide how it allocates quotas as long as this is done according to objective and transparent criteria,” said the EU, stating that member states must now decide how to allocate the EU share amongst themselves.

Fish4tomorrow encouraged the use of data, stating its necessity for the effective management of fish stocks. “As an organization, we base all of our policies on scientific data, and it is important that local and European legislation does the same,” Mr Farrugia said.

“Considering the fact that the vast majority of fishing operations are small scale and that 90% of Mediterranean fish stocks are overfished, fisheries policy needs data and scientific advice to implement laws which safeguard the industry as well as the environment,” Mr Farrugia explained.

“Unfortunately, good data doesn't always mean good policy as this is highly dependent on the way it is interpreted but it is a definite important step towards implementing responsible policies for fisheries management,” he concluded.