Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/614946
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2015 26 Letters Send your letters to: The Editor, MaltaToday, MediaToday Ltd. Vjal ir-Rihan, San Gwann SGN 9016 | Fax: (356) 21 385075 E-mail: newsroom@mediatoday.com.mt. Letters to the Editor should be concise. No pen names are accepted. News • 11 December 2005 UNDIPLOMATIC is a mild way of putting it: an incendiary letter penned by Labour MEP John Attard Montalto is feared could undermine Maltese and European efforts to rope in Libya in the fight against irregular immigration. Seen by MaltaToday, the letter is ad- dressed to the Libyan ambassador to Malta Saad El Shlmani, to whom Attard Montalto gives "instructions" on how to deal with the European Parliamentary delegation, led by Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil, ahead of their arrival in Tripoli last week. It is unclear in what capacity Attard Mon- talto wrote the letter about his euro-parlia- ment colleagues, ahead of their two-day fact- finding mission to Libya. Devoid of diplomacy or any etiquette, At- tard Montalto tells the PhD in international relations "there is a strong suspicion that Libya is not only closing a blind eye but en- couraging irregular immigration to Europe." Driving the point further, he suggests "that Libya proposes joint maritime surveillance" with other countries. Providing the ambassador with personal information on the eight MEPs visiting Libya, Attard Montalto warns El Shlmani that Green MEP Hélène Flautre was bound to "bring up the issue of human rights", par- ticularly on the controversial death sentence given to Bulgarian and Palestinian nurses deemed guilty of intentionally spreading AIDS among Libyan children. "Regarding the issue of the Bulgarian and Palestinian medics the argument (made by Libya)… is not tenable. I am aware that the issue is still under judicial review but no one believes that the Libyan judiciary is inde- pendent of influence." The MEP verges on the offensive when he calls on the ambassador not to "continue with the conspiracy theory because it is ri- diculous." He further suggests that "discussions do not include long winded introductions of the sufferings of the Libyan people in the last century," and advises to "keep such refer- ences short and to the point." In what sounds as a last minute disclaim- er, Attard Montalto tells the ambassador he "may consider this letter blunt but true friends should not resort to flattery, and be sincere." Contacted yesterday for his reaction, am- bassador Saad El Shlmani declined to com- ment. Attempts to contact Attard Montalto, who is at present on a cruise around south- east Asia, proved futile. Earlier in the letter, the MEP went into sev- eral details about how MEP Flautre "tried to become Head of the delegation but was not successful as we manoeuvred Busuttil who is Maltese." Ironically, Busuttil told The Times upon his arrival in Libya, that irregular immigra- tion was as sensitive for Libya as for Malta and other southern EU countries. "We must tread surely but carefully on this issue and I will be reporting in detail to the Euro- pean Parliament about what we find on the ground here," he said. Experts of the Arab world told MaltaToday the wording used by Attard Montalto was highly contentious and counter-productive. "It is bad enough to suggest to any Arab that his arguments are ridiculous, but say- ing so to an ambassador is the ultimate," a close observer of Middle Eastern affairs said. "Anyone with a minimum of understanding of Arabic culture knows how essential is the language used in any kind of conversation, let alone when dealing with such interna- tional sensitive issues that are still deeply divisive." Although not new to criticism from hu- man rights organisations, Libya had held a warm relationship with Malta and has just started opening up to the EU and the rest of the international community in the last years since it announced it was dismantling its weapons of mass destruction. 26 Incendiary: Attard Montalto tells Libya to abandon 'ridiculous arguments' Fascist rules in the fi shing industry I refer to your report on 9 De- cember, 'Tourism boost can aid struggling traditional fishermen', to thank the team of postgradu- ate students from the Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE) for their work, which highlights the importance of the traditional fishing sector in Malta. I am writing to confirm the dire state in which small scale fisher- men find themselves today. Un- fortunately the situation has de- teriorated over the past 10 years. The artisanal fishery is sinking under the weight of industrial trawlers and purse seiners and a biased PR strategy. The management of the 25 mile conservation zone is a flagrant antithesis of "conservation". While Malta was obliged to main- tain the "fishing effort" prevailing prior to EU accession, it acted in a different manner. Neither trawling within the zone, nor the accommodation of licence trans- fers from small boats to industrial vessels should have been allowed, as both increased the "fishing ef- fort" exponentially. The EU fleet register shows that various trawlers, up to 24 metres in length, have derated their engine power to below 250hp, so that they can fish within the con- servation zone. I wonder how one could equate the logic behind the prohibition of the traditional 12 metre luzzu from fishing within the conservation zone, while at the same time authorising industrial 24 metre trawlers and purse seiners to fish within the "protected zone"! Another factor contributing to the devastation of fish stocks is the unregulated extensive use of trammel nets by the bigger tradi- tional boats. The smaller artisanal boats, which depend much on this type of fishing, usually carry 10 to 12 pieces of nets but there are now the bigger boats carrying 50 to 70 pieces of nets and work- ing round the clock, thanks to imported cheap labour. Under this regime the fish stocks are vanishing fast. This is manifested in the fact that many artisanal fishermen are not meet- ing the landings benchmarks set by the Department of Fisheries. Yet it seems that the Fisheries Control Directorate is keener on harassing the small traditional fishermen rather than doing the right job where it really matters. Towards the end of October the department issued letters to some 300 fishermen threatening them with withdrawing their fishing licence if they fail to reach the landings by 31 December, 2015! Hence we have to put up with a directorate which with one hand concocts a recipe to destroy the local fish stocks and with the other hand chops off the head of those artisanal fishermen who cannot make ends meet. This means that come 1 January, 2016 many fishermen will wake up without a job! Unless the Fisheries Department sets the "fishing effort" to the pre- EU accession level, as contemplat- ed in the general Common Fisher- ies Policy objectives, and unless it scraps these fascist rules, there is no future, neither for traditional fishermen nor for the fish that supported the local community since time immemorial. It is indeed sad that a country with few natural resources and which relies heavily on tourism is not making a concrete effort to sustain and preserve what is left of the artisanal fishing commu- nity and all that it represents. Unless we act now it will not be long before the traditional luzzu will stop gracing our seas and the promotional brochures of the Malta Tourism Authority. I much fear that local authorities have up till now failed to acknowledge the need to preserve what constitutes an important feature of authentic Maltese identity. This is what attracts tourists to our shores, and not short-lived investments that satisfy a handful of greedy opportunists. Martin Caruana Marsaxlokk Malta Public Transport routes With reference to the letter of 6 December, "Routes being stopped", Transport Malta is rolling out a new route network, the first batch of which were introduced on 22 November. The remaining routes will be introduced on 20 December. The new routes were planned following a period of consultation where more than 3,500 proposals were submitted. The routes mentioned will be more than adequately substituted by route 46 and route 260. Route 46 will operate between Gharghur, Naxxar, Mosta, Birkirkara, Msida and Valletta. During morning peak hours, a bus will operate every 20 minutes on this route. The frequency will change to a bus every 30 minutes after half nine in the morning and to a bus every hour after nine in the evening. Route 260 will operate between Mater Dei Hospital, University, Gharghur, Naxxar and Mosta. Stanley Agius Transport Malta