All fish farm operators are ether now fully compliant with their permits, or on the way to becoming fully compliant, Environment Minister Jose Herrera told the Malta Independent.
The re-emergence of sea slime along the Maltese coast earlier this summer resulted in public outrage and disgust, with many angered at a situation which has occurred one Summer after the next.
Both the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) and the Fisheries department had gone out at sea with their own vessels conducting comprehensive inspections to determine what, if any, regulations had been broken by the operators. The report was sent to the Environment Minister and found that fish farm operators were not respecting permit conditions, and since then, work has been underway to rectify the irregularities.
Asked whether all fish farm operators are now abiding by their permits and taken all the necessary precautions, Minister Herrera yesterday said: "A few days ago I was informed that a number were almost fully compliant and that the remaining one or two operators were becoming compliant. I would think that at this point in time they are compliant."
Herrera previously told The Malta Independent that he will not shy away from taking more severe measures against fish farm operators, as had been seen two years ago, should they not abide by regulations. He had not immediately done so as the operators had made certain commitments. "I made it very clear to the fish farm operators," the Minister said a few weeks ago "that if they don't adhere to, and abide by, the regulations they will face an enforcement order."
Speaking with this newsroom yesterday, an Environment Ministry Official said that the fish farm operator's permits include a number of aspects to reduce slime, such as booms, skimmers and information on feeding procedures. The spokesperson said that over the past weeks, ERA officials have been inspecting the farms almost daily.
In the middle of the fish slime controversy, the Maltese Federation for Aquaculture Producers announced that it had reached an agreement with four out of the five fish farm operators to regularise their procedures between August and the end of October in order to have cleaner seas for everyone. The Maltese Federation for Aquaculture Producers had said that booms have been installed in every cage used by fish farm operators who signed the agreement on 4 August.
The fish farm operators had agreed between themselves to follow and adopt a number of considerations to ensure that the environment around the fish farms is kept clean.
The stipulations of said agreement between the operators include, aside from the installation of booms, that each operator should have a boat dedicated to going round the cages and picking up any waste that is generated; that the feed should be transported and processed in accordance with the best environmental practices and that there an independent person appointed by the federation assess and report on the practices that the signatory operators are utilising.
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