Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/722943
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 4 SEPTEMBER 2016 13 to one fisherman "before, we used to sell a lot of tuna through hands [fisherman-to- consumer] and did not take it to the fish market," while another fisherman stated that the problem of non-declara- tion was also linked to tax evasion "and so when it came to the actual figures, their quota was relatively low". By 2010, the purse seine indus- try was purchasing ITQs from the smaller fishers and accumulating the quota and fishing permits of very many artisanal fishermen. The control on quotas to reduce overfishing has had some success in allowing tuna stocks to recover, and in 2014 the TACs were in- creased by 20%. But while the large players accumulated fishing rights and benefited from the increased TAC, smaller fishermen were un- able to afford the prices of new fishing rights and acquire their own quota. New rules also prohibited vessels with quotas less than 200kg to ac- tively fish for Bluefin tuna. Instead, they could only transfer their quo- ta to another vessel which has a quota. "This policy left small ITQ hold- ers considerably worse off," the Durrell scientists say. "A fisher- man explained that between 2010 and 2014, the prices attached to the leased-ITQs i.e. €5–€6 were less than the reported export price of between €9 and €10, and for this reason many small-ITQ hold- ers would have preferred to catch rather than lease their ITQs." The rest of the system seems geared to elbow the 'non-opera- tional' tuna fishermen out of the market (in total there are 63 ar- tisanal vessels owned by 54 indi- viduals or companies, but the con- centration of rights is dominated by companies associated with the tuna ranching industries). For example, to declare tuna as by-catch is conditional on catch- ing 20 heads of swordfish, one fisherman told the Durrell sci- entists. "Now, for a fisherman to catch 20 heads of swordfish he has to be very lucky, so the policy is there to dishearten the fishermen from catching his small quota as by-catch and instead lease it to the fish farm." Tuna ranching: accumulation by dispossession Malta's tuna ranching industry is owned by only five companies, two of which are foreign investors. To- gether with the large tuna fishing companies, who own larger iron vessels, they could pay them some €1,200 daily for the two months of the year to tow the tuna cages. And this meant that tuna ranch- ers were able to secure the lease of these fishermen's ITQs as well, becoming the real owner of the Maltese Bluefin tuna industry. "Along with being the main own- er and lessee of the national TAC, the tuna ranching sector also con- trols access to the lucrative foreign BFT markets," the Durrell scien- tists say. "These connections are allow- ing the tuna ranchers to exploit prices to their advantage with, for example, active long-liners who must export their BFT via the tuna ranchers. "For this reason, the ranching industry has a monopoly over the price of both the lease and the ex- port market, and it is therefore in a powerful position to maximize profits and act strategically at the expense of the artisanal fishing fleet. "For example, by reducing the difference between the leased-ITQ price (€6–€8 in 2015) and the ex- port price of ITQ caught tuna (at around €9–€10 in 2015), the tuna ranchers have been able to attract the majority of independent Mal- tese ITQ holders to lease their ITQ directly to them. Consequently the number of active long-liners fish- ing their ITQs decreased by 71% between 2014 and 2015." Maltese long-liners also claim the government has created 'in- timidating' control procedures in the form of regular at-sea-inspec- tions and a heavy bureaucratic burden on their operations, mak- ing them "anxious and under pres- sure. After narrating a bitter expe- rience that he encountered with enforcement procedures at sea, an active long-liner said '...these days I am always afraid – and my fear only ends when I get back home – not when I tie up the boat but when I am in my house". The Durrell scientists believe it is safe to assume that these proce- dures are an 'implicit' way of dis- heartening artisanal fishers, and encourage them to instead lease their ITQs to the tuna ranchers. The effect has been clear: a ma- jor reduction in the artisanal fleet, while locals are taken on as extra deckhands for the BFT season be- tween April and July. The spillover effect As fishermen explained, fishing activity during what was before the Bluefin tuna season, has now transferred to other fisheries, mainly trammel netting and gill netting, targeting bottom feeders and small pelagic species respec- tively. Indeed, between 2007 and 2012 the days at sea spent on trammel nets increased by 4,500% while gillnets have increased by 870%, a spill-over directly related to de- creased profitability of the non- permit BFT holders who had to di- versify into other fishing systems, and by fishermen who have chosen to lease out their ITQs rather than fish them. But the Durrell scientists also note that for some fishers, leas- ing their ITQs has been lucrative, and allowed them to gain income and maximize their profits by de- ploying their vessels in the tram- mel net and gill net fisheries. Ad- ditionally, the large ITQ holders themselves use up to 70 nets per day compared to small ITQ hold- ers with up to 15 nets. In the words of Marsaxlokk fisherman Martin Caruana, "the bigger boats [are] carrying 50–70 pieces of nets and working round the clock, thanks to imported cheap labour." To boot, there are the effects of overfishing because of industrial trawling. "As one fisherman highlighted 'the past was more viable in terms of catches and now the expenses have increased, so the future isn't welcoming'. These fishermen perceive their future as bleak and some have resorted to the recrea- tional bluefin tuna fishing segment to make ends meet," the Durrell scientists say. In another blow to artisanal fish- ers, the conditions for recreational tuna catches prohibits them from commercializing their catches. Informally, the tuna can be sold for just €2 a kilo. "The fishermen, however are not benefitting much as commercial sales are not al- lowed and they are easily exploited by middlemen who can take ad- vantage of the system. As a fish- erman explained '...the fishermen end up with the cheapest price for this tuna, when and if, they find potential buyers. The middleman tells you that he has the same level of risk as you do and so he wants the cheapest price. We sell a tuna of 50kg for €100 and then they sell it for around €10 per kilogramme – making around €1,000." Additionally, these fishermen are exposed to the risk of prosecution for exceeding the one-tuna-per- trip catch. Divide and rule Politics plays an important part in this grave shift into industri- alization and the concentration of the quotas into tuna ranchers and larger purse seiners. Many of these fishing giants are seasoned busi- nessmen in their own right with commercial interests in construc- tion, and as is typical for Malta, close to the political elites. MaltaToday itself was hit hard when writing about the subject. In 2007, journalist Raphael Vas- sallo began writing about alleged shortcomings in import-export data, fattening rates that appeared biologically impossible, and an ille- gal case of re-flagging vessels. Mal- taToday was later hit with a mass libel legal action by all five com- panies on the island — Ta' Mat- tew Fish Farms, Fish & Fish Tuna Ranch, Malta Fish Farms, AJD Tu- na, and Mare Blu Tuna Ranch. As it stands today, the case remains in suspension. Small fishers complain that even members of the Fisheries Coop benefited from the tuna ranching industry. "Tuna ranching, which was pre- sented by the Cooperatives as a new niche for Maltese fishermen, benefits only around 5% of the full- time artisanal fishing fleet. These include co-operative members who accrued profits through the ranch ownership and 15% of the ITQ holders who have diversified into cage towage during the purse seine season. "Although there are opportuni- ties to work as labourers at the tu- na ranching installations for those fishermen excluded from the BFT fishery directly, this has not been an attractive option for most as 'low-paid jobs do not provide the same income and job satisfaction as much as the BFT fishing activ- ity'." The Durrell scientists say that most fishermen criticize the sys- tem as capitalistic, and argue that even the government authorities are rude, since they insinuate that there needs to be protection of the fish stocks – "when the reality is that the tuna fishing has become commercialized, and [most] Mal- tese fishermen, due to their arti- sanal nature, have remained out of the loop". "Although fishermen seem to be conscious of their situation, they perceive themselves as the 'small fish' who are unable to change their destiny. In a fisherman's words: 'I understand that the small fish never ate the big fish, and thus we are not going to be able to overturn the situation of the purse seiner'." The Durrell scientists say the very same fishermen who in 2001 battled against foreign companies like Ricardo Fuentes, who affected their fishing rights, are today more prone to struggle among each other. Unlike the big players, they have little access to political party influence, and today they are a fragmented and powerless force. The article is an abridged ver- sion of Said et al's Bluefin tuna fishery policy in Malta: The plight of artisanal fishermen caught in the capitalist net, pub- lished in Marine Policy News he hungry tuna ranchers A tuna fattening ranch: purse seiners capture enormous amounts of tuna to place in ranches, before selling the fattened fish off to Japan Protesting in 2011: little has changed Recreational fishers cannot commercialise their catch