Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1081437
4 NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 13 FEBRUARY 2019 JAMES DEBONO A case officer report issued by the Plan- ning Authority's planning directorate is recommending the approval of an appli- cation presented by AJD tuna, a company owned by Azzopardi Fisheries, to double tuna penning cages located 5km away from the shoreline in a Natura 2000 site in the vicinity of Sikka l-Bajda. A decision will be taken in a Planning Board meeting on Thursday. The PA still has to approve the location of the North Aquaculture Zone, which is the subject of another pending application presented by the Fisheries Department, which is still being assessed. While the number of cages will be dou- bled, the farm will still cater for a total bio- mass of 3,000 tonnes of fish. The case of- ficer described the application presented by AJD as an "interim solution." The reason given for doubling the number of cages is to ensure that the tuna fish have sufficient space to allow them to reach optimal size before they are killed. The decision to relocate the tuna pens from Comino and St Paul's Bay was taken in 2017 amid national outrage over re- ports of sea sludge polluting the Maltese coastline. But the decision was opposed by envi- ronmental groups like BirdLife over the absence of studies on the temporary re- location of cages to a designated marine Natura 2000 site. The current application to double the number of tuna pens will still respect the company's 3,300 tonnes of fish quota. Currently, the tuna penning operations in the North consists of two installations of six cages each located in close proxim- ity to each other, and utilising the same area of sea. Through this application the operators will double the number of cages to 24. The aim of the application is that of increasing cage space. The Environment Resources Authority concluded that the proposed development is unlikely to have significant residual im- pacts if "stringent mitigation measures and pre-emptive safeguards" are imple- mented throughout both deployment and operation of the fish farm. An Environmental Impact Assessment prepared by the developers' consultants warned of a series of negative environ- mental impacts as a result of extending existing tuna pens in the area. According to the study, the tuna-pen- ning zone may have a major negative im- pact on marine water quality, resulting from uneaten feed settling on the seabed, discharges of oil and bilge waters, and dis- charge of sewage from marine vessels. The EIA warns that the discharge of fish oils can also affect beaches and coastal ar- eas, as has happened in recent years. "This would impact bathing, yachting, diving, and related recreation, tourism, and the general quality of life of coastal residents and visitors." According to the EIA, the severity of this impact will depend on the amount of fish oil released into the marine environment during feeding and the amount of oils that escape the farm and the collection systems deployed to counteract this issue. The EIA proposes a number of measures to avoid these negative impacts, includ- ing supervision of tuna feeding by divers and to stop feeding tuna before they are satiated to avoid loss of feed, to reduce the deposition of tuna feed on the seabed. Other measures proposed include the availability of "additional oil collection services outside the farm to ensure imme- diate collection of any slick escaping from the farm." A number of vague proposals made in- clude "good practices aboard ships" to minimise discharges, noise, light, and lit- tering, and the use of oil skimmers to col- lect oil released in each cage. The tuna farm extension may also have a negative impact on breeding seabird populations resulting from increased light pollution and the attraction of predatory sea gulls. To avert these impacts the EIA suggests a downscaling of activities at night, the setting up of a seabird monitor- ing programme, the monitoring of gull colonies and the training of staff "in ap- propriate bird handling and reporting". PA set to approve doubling of tuna cages in Natura 2000 site The current application to double the number of tuna pens will still respect the company's 3,300 tonnes of fish quota