As part of an investment under the European Marine Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), the government has launched two joint projects that will spur a leap in effectiveness and transparency in the fisheries and aquaculture sector in our country, and they will be of great help to fishermen and to all Maltese and Gozitan operators.
These details were announced during a news conference by the Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Animal Rights Alicia Bugeja Said and the Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Chris Bonett.
In the first project, the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture will be developing an Integrated Fisheries Information system (FIIS). This will allow the department to collect and process information on fishing in real time. The system will ensure the transmission of the most up-to-date statistics between fishermen, department officials and external bodies including the European Commission and other organisations. This will strengthen the function and efficiency of the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
The second project, DC-MAP, is focused on fostering sustainable fisheries and the conservation of aquatic resources through reliable information. With an investment of €3.15 million, co-financed by the EU, the Fisheries Research section (FRU) within the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture will ensure that it gathers scientific evidence and provides advice valuable for effective decision making in fisheries management. With these two projects, the government will continue to give peace of mind to the Maltese fisherman, who will have access to the most transparent and up-to-date statistics of the fishing market in Malta.
Parliamentary Secretary Alicia Bugeja Said described the impact of this transparent reporting as a key to achieving more successes, from which all the Maltese and Gozitan people benefit. “In everything we are doing, we are ensuring sectors that are sustainable both economically and environmentally. We want to ensure that the decisions we make every day are based on a clearer picture of the marine ecology around us,” repeated the parliamentary secretary while stressing that the government’s aim is to continue to be the shield of the fishermen and all Maltese operators. “The legacy of these two projects is to have sustainable fishing, to continue helping in the restoration of aquatic biological resources, and to introduce more efficient means of enforcement. Therefore this will lead to us continuing to ensure the future accessibility to fish at sustainable levels, and we will be able to keep the prices of fish affordable for every Maltese and Gozitan, in every season of the year,” concluded Bugeja Said.
Parliamentary Secretary Chris Bonett said that thanks to this investment, sustainable blue economic growth will be fostered, the resilience of the fishing sector will be strengthened, and the ecological transition of the sector. “As we announced back in January, during the launch of the new package of European Funds, the fishing and aquaculture fund will rise to €33 million and the mentioned areas will be able to benefit from these funds. Through this program we will be looking for interventions to ensure that the fishing sector is economically viable and resilient to external shocks and to competition from third countries,” concluded Chris Bonett.
