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thisd is nothing new i fish there every single day and i normally see this just seems there is nothing any 1 can do >:(
i dont understand why amateurs use nets in the first place ! what's the fun in that ? fishing with a rod is su much more challenging since you have to fight the fish ! i understand that professional fishermen use nets because they need to make big catches in order to make some profit , but amateurs only fish to have fun and maybe bring a few fish home for a nice meal ! fighting a fish on light tackle is the best :)
these people are destroying our environment.....i can't believe my eyes sometimes! this could also be of great danger to snorklers and also big boats
but is it against the law to fish with the nets in the harbour im sure it is so why dont the police do some thing?
There is suppose to be a mark coloured white and red to show from where it is legal to throw their nets. Most of them come from Marsaxlokk. They see every single fish M-O-N-E-Y!!!! I don't know why local enforcements don't talk to these guys as they are doing so much harm to our precious sea! Last time I went spearfishing near Birzebbuga fish farms I had the buoy with me as I always do with the flag showing that I am diving but one of them kept throwing the nets near me putting me in danger! What I do? I was in the sea he was o his boat! Something has to be done!
They pracically kill everything. I saw them throwing nets in the St.Julians area from il KAVALIER till the shallow places inside the port.
They are idiots and spoil fishing for everyone,themselves included as the nets they use have such a small mesh pattern that they pick up everything, junvenile fish included ,so where they expect next years fish to come from when they are killing off juveniles every year is a mystery to me,its no suprise that shore fishing has been getting worser every year >:( As far as it being against the law i m pretty sure that during the months of december and january there is a very old law which allows them to put 'parit' nets inside the perimeter markers (crazy law isnt it!) i dont know if this law still applies but it definetly did 4yrs ago as when we tried to report someone maritime informed us of it.
http://docs.justice.gov.mt/lom/Legislation/Maltese/SubLeg/425/01.PDF
Article 24 states that only in the period between 15th Feb until 15th July, pariti cannot be used in the places where a tartarun cannot be used i.e. inwards from the markers on either side of bays. So, outside this period, it seems that pariti can be laid down in bays. There is no specific reference to how far away from the shore it should be in any case. Article 25 also states that special permits can be issued so that even in the said period pariti can be laid down close to land.
That's why fish stocks are dwindling...
Thanks for clearing that up rob,although i know of many instances where pariti have been put down in bays in the allowed period & have been taken up by the patrol boat,so it seems not even the authorities know what the law is let alone when or where to enforce it (what a suprise!!) & even so you'd think fishing regulations should reflect the times,how a law drafted in 1934/1935 achieves this is a mystery.However it does stipulate the size of the knots in the net which are fairly reasonable if someone bothered to enforce the law....
I saw this also in Gozo in M'forn right in the bay in front of the otters pitch, down to nearly half the bay and then another on from the opposite side to the middel of the bay, try fishing from the bay u catch nothing, But before these nets were being trown you could catch mplenty of fish . now nothing >:(
they are doing it again in birzebbuga. this year i notice 5 different boats working nets in the bay even to a 3-3 metre distance from shores.
Do you guys knows where to phone for someone to take action?
The authorities seem to take action on (s) registered boats who cast their nets outside harbours but do not take action on the bastards excuse my language but that is what i call people like those who cast out their nets in harbours and in bays.
something has to be done by the authorities if i had to start mentiong all the places i found nets in bays you would be disgusted i found nets in 3 ft of water while i was preparing for a dive
Also i have seen 'S' registered boats picking up and dropping nets in plain sight of a patrol boat...i think there must be either a selective enforcement policy or more likely whether they can be bothered doing any work!
i am not against the guys with an s registration who cast nets beacause as long as they are casting nets outside harbours and not in shallow areas its all ok beacause these do not cast out more than 3-4 nets. But i am disgusted of seeing people with small fishing boats with an mfc or mfb registration casting their nets so close to land in harbours and in bays.
Thats what i meant bigboy i see guys regularly dropping nets about 20m out from the shore,ok granted its not in a harbour which is even worse, but the net effect is till the same.
Yes the net effect is still bad but its a kind of fishing ey. Personally i do not really like fishing with nets as its too much of a hassel i prefer longlines and nassi. When we go out for work we never cast our nets less than 1nm offshore, personally i think that when you cast your nets in less than 20fathoms you are bound to catch small fish but when you move in deeper areas mainly 25 - 70 fathoms you are able to find a couple of goodsized fish but you still get the occasional small cippollazza. I think that as we are equipped with a good winch then we can fish deep waters and not ruin the shallow waters.
Don't get me wrong ive got nothing personally against somebody earing a living by fishing at least 1nm offshore with nets or nassi or longlines,in fact it would be a terrible waste of a natural resource if no one did!!
im just against these F***ing clowns who think only about themselves and that the rules don't apply for them and drop nets wherever they feel like & spoil it for the rest of us ...& eventually for themselves too..... ??? >:(
The ALE section of the police and the patol boats are always patroling the sea, but unfortunately they only seem to care only about any bird hunters, and never take any notice of what these fisherman are doing to our sea!
Today I saw one throwing his nets near Delimara power plant in front of anglers on shore. Does anybody knows a number where I can call authorities?
There are too much nets! How are we suppose to catch anything? They can go with their boats somewhere else and 'fish' their although fishing is not the proper name for those who throw nets!
There is net fishing and net fishing. There is also the diameter of the mesh of the net. We fish with 35mm mesh nets which do not hold any small fish in them. I know people from marsaxlokk who throw out 30 nets and more in very poor populated fish areas and catch even the single fish left. There are also net fisherman who fish with care because they earn a living from it so if they diminish all the fish stock that means that they will not catch anything.
But why do they throw nets near shore where they see anglers! Especially when they know anglers are catching something like Awrat when it escapes fishfarms! Don't the anglers have the RIGHT to have some good time with their rods! That's a rare opportunity! WHY IS IT THEY HAVE TO SUCK THE SEA FROM ALL THE FISH?
BIGBOY and if you throw nets in deep sea especialy where the bottom is very rocky you will for sure leave pieces of net and that is when you do the most damage to fish. the nets stay in the bottom and the fish still get caught and die. sometimes we bring up pieces of nets when fishing with long lines in deep sea
We never fish in areas deeper than 70fa. We have some good places in the NE - E Area and till now we have never left a piece of net behind us.
i think the NE E area in 70fathoms is sandy/mud bottom
Last week I went to buy some bait from a fishshop and he had a section of his showcase, about 100x50cm full of tiny pagell or pagri and when I say tiny I mean not more than 3 inches and there where ALOT of fish. I was a bit pissed at the owner for buying such fish and he noticed my disgusted face when he saw me trying to count the ammount of fish, his responce was that when fisherman come to sell their catch, u either take everything they have or they sell it to someone else, so apparently he has no choice but to buy everything.
Everytime I went abroad for a holiday or work I always took a rod with me, whenever I had some free time I would go find some water and cast in, I fished from land in Italy, Tunes, Greece and spain, Malta by far is the shittest place when it comes to fish population, now it's either in those places ppl don't eat fish or else somehow they have managed not to overfish their coasts. Logic would tell me that if others managed, we should be able to do it aswell.
In the past weeks we heard alot about EU and regulations on hunting, dosent the EU have any sort of regulations about fishing, which Malta would be obliged to follow?
i heard something very inportant yesterday.. a local fish tackle owner informed me that talks are imminent that probably gnejna, qbajjar and dingli cliffs areas will become maritime park ; probably and no fishing and diving will be allowed (most probably). this is yet rumors but the guy who told me really is informed about such things...
Talks like that have been started a lot of times, I was about 30 years old when conservation areas were talked about (I am now 55). Regarding inshore fishing there are rules but as We were informed in a meeting at a hall in Tarxien (on the road leading to Gudja) for fisherman before we joined the EU, Quote ''RULES ARE MEANT TO BE BROKEN'' and ''THERE ARE ALWAYS WAYS HOW TO GO ROUND A STRAIGHT ROAD" unquote. Thats the Maltese attitude. If something has to be done we have to push and push untill something is done. So we have to learn and be informed as to what is legal and what is allowed. We also have to be aware where to report incidents and report anything that we see. pressure on authorites is also very important to keep our beaches and seas clean and hopefully to see more fish both for sport fishing as well as for the enjoyment of snorkelling.
Regarding B'Bugia, we used to have nets stretching from boat moorings, thats how bad it was.
I am sure there is a place where to complain and see what is legal or not and we are the right people to make pressure against this kind of fishing even if we need to start writing in the newspaper about it. we should talk about this next friday at our get together meeting
Speaking of which where is it going to be attard or mosta??
not sure yet, still waiting for skip to anounce the place and time, Remember that its a friday and we should have already booked
Well thats what i was thinking with fri coming up & it usually being a busy day for restaurants.
Personally it dosen't make a difference where, as they are both good :)
it seems that not all Restaurants / bars etc will be open of friday since in many parishes there are the processions of Duluri. Advised where it is going to be so as to come/
:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o
pls write for the get together on the proper post so that everyone see that.
For me doesn t metter cos its tommorrow. If its a problem we eat only gallett and incova :) and drink water ;D ;D ;D
This guy and other 3 seem to have no respect with shore anglers and ones like us spear fishing they throw their nets in the evening and collect them in the morning as shown below. They are registered fishermen one with boat registered MFB 8337.
(http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/gallery/223_26_03_08_7_49_38.JPG) (http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/gallery/223_26_03_08_8_00_48.JPG) (http://maltafishingforum.com/talk/gallery/223_26_03_08_8_04_24.JPG)
try to send them to the relevant government department and see what they reply back. so for next time we will know what to do if we see something like this.
Ports Directorate
Maritime Trade Centre
Xatt l-Ghassara ta' l-Gheneb
Marsa HMR 12
Tel: +356 21222203 Fax: +356 21222208
Email: info@mma.gov.mt
Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment,
Barriera Wharf,
Valletta CMR 02.
Malta
Tel: +356 2295 2000
Fax: +356 2295 2212
E-mail: info.mrae@gov.mt
arti if you can send me the photos it is better. i deliberately reported him. they asked me to send them an e mail with the photos attached to it.
the guy seemed very reasonable and very well informed and very sure to help us in our case. he gave me his e mail and for an obvious reason i can't give you his mail
something is moving guys, let us provoke some awareness on this issue together we can do it.
if you send me the photos on njf100@hotmail.com skip i can proceed and the time you took the photos. this will go straight to the police. they were very straight foward on this.
When you take photos make sure you have the licesnse number well seen and visible in the photo...it is a very difficult proof to avoid.
(one of the photos is good but the other one was fortunate enough but this will act as a deterrant)
i have no problem that they show my name i had clashes with these type of guys thay are good for nothing.... some throw pariti and then they just don't sell the fish afterwards cos it is too small or eaten away by small worms.
Hi,
Photo's were taken by Arti so best to ask him to email them to you. I am sure he will read this post, otherwise send him a private message through the forum so he email's you the photo's and tells you when they were taken etc.
Skip
No problem Skip. I'll do my best to take more photos to stop these guys that are destroying our seas.
Like busumark said let us know what happens,so other forum members will know what to do or which department/office best to contact maybe we can get the ball rolling regarding this widespread problem!
yes it is ok i contacted the person in kind but it is better if we keep this on a low profile. the reason is that these fisherman are not very tolerant.
i was talking to a guy who is rumored to occassionaly throw parit in harbour, he is very pissed about the rules being proposed. they want to stay with the current laws, the laws of the jungle.
News : EU Affairs
Malta reiterates commitment to sustainable fishing
By MaltaMedia News
Apr 17, 2008 - 3:30:34 PM
Malta has reiterated its commitment to fight against the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) activities. This was stated by the Minister for Resources and Rural Affairs, George Pullicino during of a seminar which discussed the theme ?Preventing, Deterring and Eliminating Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU)?.
The European Commissioner for Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, Dr Joe Borg also attended and addressed the seminar.
Minister Pullicino stated that notwithstanding the fact that the measures considered in the European Commission?s proposal will definitely continue to add to the financial and human resource burden of fisheries control, and also notwithstanding that these burdens are substantial for small Member States, Malta remains fully committed to fight IUU fishing.
He added that Malta?s efforts in fighting IUU fishing are longstanding and it has repeatedly spoken out against IUU fishing practices in the past in international fora. One such example is Malta?s ongoing reporting of driftnet fishing for swordfish in the Mediterranean.
Local fishermen can now consult the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in its Maltese translation. This measure was adopted to make the code more accessible to the local fishermen, enabling them to acquaint themselves with responsible fishing as intended by the international community and therefore deter from actions in breach of the code and regulations in general.
? Copyright 2008 by MaltaMedia.com
Let`s hope that this will not be just same bla bla bla.... maybe some serious action will be taken before our seas have gone empty.
they speak against driftnet fishing. They better start to control the illegal fishing with nets and change the law so that trawlers cant trawl from only 3 miles from shore
Exactly! thats one of the major problems and reasons why certain types of fish are dissapearing altogether.
The major problem with all trawling nets is the bi-catch i.e. perfectly good fish which are caught un-intentionally and usually discarded for market related reasons like the price of these fish not being worth it at certain times of the year.
Also there is the fact that they pretty much destroy the seabed.Lets hope they do something about this before its too late...if its not already
qas jisthu...they must be ashamed, of themselves...hundreds of fishy fishy small fishys are killed weekly..!! the authorities should take immediate action e!