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MALTATODAY 18 February 2024

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11 NEWS maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 FEBRUARY 2024 JAMES DEBONO jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Submit your application MANAGER (ACCOUNTING & FINANCE) Aġenzija għas-Servizzi tal-Qrati Prospective candidates must be in possession of: • a recognised Bachelor's degree at MQF Level 6 (subject to a minimum of 180 ECTS/ECVET credits or equivalent) in Accounting or Finance plus one (1) year experience in areas relevant to the post; or • a recognized Diploma at MQF Level 5 (subject to a minimum of 60 ECTS/ECVET credits, or equivalent) in Accounting or Finance plus five (5) years' experience in areas relevant to the post; or • three (3) subjects at Advanced Level plus five (5) years' experience in areas relevant to the post; or • two (2) subjects at Advanced Level and three (3) subjects at Intermediate Matriculation Level plus five (5) years' experience in areas relevant to the post; or • in possession of fifteen (15) years relevant work experience, eight (8) of which must be related to the duties of this post. Candidates must also be proficient in the Maltese and English Languages and be of conduct which is appropriate to the post. This post is pegged to the Court Services Agency Grade 3. At 2024 rates, this is equivalent to €26,028 per annum, rising by annual increments of €584 up to a maximum of €31,284. The post of Manager is on a full-time indefinite basis and is subject to a probationary period of one year. Candidates are to submit their letter of application, their qualifications and experience in a Europass Curriculum Vitae Format, a copy of their relevant scanned certificates and a valid Police Conduct Certificate by e-mail on recruitment.courts@courtservices.mt. Further information and a comprehensive description of duties can be obtained by contacting the Court Services Agency on recruitment.courts@courtservices.mt. Applications will be received till Friday 1st March 2024 at 13:00 hrs. Eligibility JobsPlus Permit No. 571/2023 THE government has given up on finding an alternative loca- tion further away from the Mell- ieha and St Paul's Bay coast for two tuna pen establishments. Instead, it has presented a plan- ning application to turn the pres- ent temporary location of the farms into a permanent one. The present temporary site which hosts tuna pens owned by AJD Tuna Ltd and Malta Mari- culture Ltd is located 4.5km from the protected Rdum tal-Madon- na cliffs off Mellieha. The cliffs host storm petrel bird colonies. The current site is also located some 4.8km from Qawra Point in St Paul's Bay. The area is desig- nated as a marine protected area. A previous application submit- ted in 2019 had proposed locat- ing the permanent aquaculture zone for northern tuna pens some 5.7km from the Mellieħa cliffs and 7.6 km from Qawra Point within the marine protect- ed area. The major drawback of the ap- plication was that the proposed site was just 4.6km away from Ħondoq ir-Rummien in Qala. Although a case officer had recommending approval, the ap- plication was dropped following objections from the Qala local council. The council had submitted a technical report warning that the new farm could lead to oil slicks as large as 10 cubic metres being released each day. If winds blow from the east, they could reach the Gozitan coast in 17 hours. No increase in tuna biomass While the 2019 application to relocate the farms closer to Gozo envisaged an increase in the total biomass of fish kept in the pens from 3,300 tonnes to 5,000 tonnes, the present appli- cation emphatically states that there will be no increase in the total biomass of fish. The cur- rent application also states that there will be no change in condi- tions imposed in a permit issued to Charles Azzopardi's AJD Tu- na Ltd in 2019. The permit which had also in- creased the number of cages from 12 to 24 was issued as a "an interim solution until an appro- priate location to accommodate the North Aquaculture Zone is approved and established". Following the presentation of an Environmental Impact As- sessment, ERA had concluded that the proposed development is unlikely to have significant re- sidual impacts, due to the tempo- rary nature of the tuna pens until the North Aquaculture Zone is set up. Moreover, ERA also noted that the operations are restrict- ed to "small portion" of the total area of the Special Area of Con- servation. Negative impacts foreseen in the EIA included an oil pollution resulting from the increase in maritime traffic in the area and the risk posed to storm petrels by an increase of predatory yel- low legged gulls attracted by the increase in small fish. To avert these risks ERA had included sev- eral stringent conditions. ERA has now requested a state- ment from the coordinator of the EIA for the temporary site ap- proved in 2019 to state whether turning the temporary site in to a permanent will change the con- clusions made in the study and whether an update of these stud- ies is required. Tuna pens off Sikka l-Bajda to be stay in same location

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