Discussion on Marine Protected Areas

[baghira]

hahahahahaha

[lazyfisherman]

Sorry guys but I simply used the terminology as laid out in the law. In fact Caldaland's assessment of the authorities is definitely more realistic.

I am making this statement because something clearly does not follow here - if there is some new rule making it illegal to collect sea urchins how is it that none of us are informed about it? Something like this ought to be given adequate publicity in the media since many people occasionally collect some sea urchins (TV, newspapers etc).

If on the other hand the species is simply listed in Schedule VIII but there are as yet no specific laws restricting its collection then it is not illegal and the police should not be stopping people from doing so (unless they are operating in a marine protected area where collecting specimens from the sea bed is definitely not permissible)

[caldaland]

i was only kidding guys but,come to think of it,it does reflect a bit of truth.

[placebo]

exactly the same thing happened last year with the trailers issue if you remember well ..... I would just keep on fishing and enjoy my time as much as possible. After all we must all know what are to species to be protected and what we need to preserve for our future.
This forum has done so much in favour of sportfishing and we must not be angry .... we must all go to the sea respect it as much as possible but on the other hand we must enjoy and continue our traditions as Maltese people ......

[Antonio Anastasi]

In St Paul's Bay, notably the Barracudas area, sea urchins have been missing for years and definitely not by divers or spaghetti eaters. The pollution emitted by the tuna, awrat and spnott fishfarms has ruined the seabed. Only in the last past 2 years there seem to be a slight increase of sea urchins but nothing in comparison to my childhood where the sea was literally littered with them.

One of the reasons of the decline of sea urchins was a virus that had decimated the Mediterranean sea urchin population, including Malta, in the early 1980s

[Antonio Anastasi]

Do not take me wrong.
I am also a diver and totally in favour of a well managed marine protected area at cikewwa.
What I am not in favour is the fact that many promote these areas for their own scope, money, diving schools....and do not give a shit about others.

And also for the fact that, authorities insead of taking good care, of the existent protected areas, and manage them well, they lie around everywhere and sometimes also invent new stories, like: they hear their superiors tell them that picking sea urchins from certain areas is prohibited, and they had fallen asleep and did not hear the last part......
If they are more professional, we would be more than happy to cooperate, and if someone maybe informs us beforehand..

I think that there is a misunderstanding within the fishing communities and the scope of the Areas of Conservation as per the Mariners Notice mentioned above, which happens to be around wrecks.

These wrecks, were sunk to create artificial reefs and underwater attractions to promote diving tourisim, and ultimately benefit the fishing community and local divers too

The wrecks, these areas of conservation are NOT the playground of divers as most fishing is allowed. So to say that these wrecks are there to the disadvantage of fishermen is nothing more than scaremongering.

It is very clear that the types of fishing that are not allowed are the paritii, pots and other forms of fishing that touch the sea bed.

Also with respect, your statement that the attitude of divers is that "... do not give a shit about others." is quite a long way from the truth.

The diving community, ATALM, FEDERATION OF UNDERWATER ACTIVITIES, AMPHIBIANS, CALYPSO SUBAQUA CLUB, with the support of to date the PDSA and Nature Trust has taken steps to create a VOLUNTARY marine reserve. This voluntary marine reserve will be managed by a committee made up of representatives of divers, anglers, fishermen and NGOs. We have also had meetings with the largest fishing federation  to discuss the issue of the Voluntary Marine Reserve.

The intention is that we, the stakeholders, once more to make it clear, this means YOU THE ANGLERS, FISHERMEN,AND DIVERS, get together and agree on a code of practice and a management policy to benefit ALL (once more this means ANGLERS, FISHERMEN AND DIVERS) users, and to be in a position to police the site against those that ARE breaking the law, those that are laying the paritii well within the 200M buffer zone from the wrecks.

To educate ALL users to adopt sustainable practices for the protection, of not just the marine environment but also our past times.

Once more I ask those representatives of the various fishing clubs and or fishing federations to contact me on tonio_divemalta@yahoo.com in order to discuss how they can or would want to contribute  to this project

[Antonio Anastasi]

Sorry guys but I simply used the terminology as laid out in the law. In fact Caldaland's assessment of the authorities is definitely more realistic.

I am making this statement because something clearly does not follow here - if there is some new rule making it illegal to collect sea urchins how is it that none of us are informed about it? Something like this ought to be given adequate publicity in the media since many people occasionally collect some sea urchins (TV, newspapers etc).

If on the other hand the species is simply listed in Schedule VIII but there are as yet no specific laws restricting its collection then it is not illegal and the police should not be stopping people from doing so (unless they are operating in a marine protected area where collecting specimens from the sea bed is definitely not permissible)

Unfortunately when such laws or regulations are passed these appear in the government gazette  and it is expected that people read this.

From our research we know for sure that fishermen did not know that Cirkewwa was an area of conservation till they either read or saw on the news the the survey the CIRKEWWA VOLUNTARY MARINE RESERVE group did back in September.

[baghira]

Dear Antonio..

Please be informed that i was a member of Calypso, currently did a couple of dives with Atlam, and dived also with amphibians ages ago.... so I know what YOUR attitude (not everyone) towards spearfishing are...
Don't use use diffcult words to pronounce to try and fool people...

I am sure that there isn't a diver that respects law/policies more than i do... I do respect the sea even where law does not exist..
You do not know me, ask those who do..

Wrecks that were sunk for this purpose I agree, what about those that were not, and what about other illegal activities.... Why not control/enforce those?

What about the bay at Mistra/Xemxija?? I have been diving these areas for 20 years. Where they the same 20 years ago!??!! Only  Mud and Silt. And here you come telling me about the Virus!! Yes there is a big Virus further out, but you can do nothing about it, nobody can....We have witnessed various infringments with our eyes, and Fisheries officers confirmed this and they give them warnings.............WARNINGS............ and if they catch us, we ae taken to court.........?

Please Tonio.... enforce what there is to enforce........ and then when we hear something good happening in the News,,,, then come to us for support...

[baghira]

Sorry Tonio for being so frustrated...............
But you touched a delicate topic, and I am in the enforcement sector myself.... so i know much more than many think...

[placebo]

we can only be frustrated. No one comes and help us when we report illegal net fishing in MSkala, Kalkara, Birzebbuga, St Pauls Bay .... and other areas.
I have been personally on the phone in delicate hours to report such irregularities and sometimes police tend to make fun of you also.

Goverment has no money to spend in fuel and has no boats to patrol, such illegal activities which are being done in early hours or even night hours.

Cirkewwa stand to be different ........ the place generates money so we take care of it and try to impress tourists. this also applies to some other places where you go diving.

Most of the amateur fishing people are very much in favour of conservation.

this forum also have a special number to report illegal fishing but we do not get help. There are also fishing clubs that have been practising catch and release for more than 15 years ..... what do we get?

[malvizzu]

What about the bay at Mistra/Xemxija?? I have been diving these areas for 20 years. Where they the same 20 years ago!??!! Only  Mud and Silt. And here you come telling me about the Virus!! Yes there is a big Virus further out, but you can do nothing about it, nobody can....We have witnessed various infringments with our eyes, and Fisheries officers confirmed this and they give them warnings.............WARNINGS............ and if they catch us, we ae taken to court.........?

Well said Silvio. Could not have put better words myself.

[Granitu]

Sorry guys but I simply used the terminology as laid out in the law. In fact Caldaland's assessment of the authorities is definitely more realistic.

I am making this statement because something clearly does not follow here - if there is some new rule making it illegal to collect sea urchins how is it that none of us are informed about it? Something like this ought to be given adequate publicity in the media since many people occasionally collect some sea urchins (TV, newspapers etc).

If on the other hand the species is simply listed in Schedule VIII but there are as yet no specific laws restricting its collection then it is not illegal and the police should not be stopping people from doing so (unless they are operating in a marine protected area where collecting specimens from the sea bed is definitely not permissible)

Unfortunately when such laws or regulations are passed these appear in the government gazette  and it is expected that people read this.

From our research we know for sure that fishermen did not know that Cirkewwa was an area of conservation till they either read or saw on the news the the survey the CIRKEWWA VOLUNTARY MARINE RESERVE group did back in September.

just a note, This is a not for profit forum Mr Anastasi.... Well said Silvio

Also, what is the hidden agenda that all of a sudden the divers community woke up? What is your interest?

I'm sure you have an answer to this question, but it will not be relayed to us directly. Through contact the governmnet holds highly the diving community but what you and the politicians fail to see is

The sport fishing industry in Malta(not commercial fishing), if kicked in, will always generate more economic activity than the diving community.

Thanks Mr Anastasi for the inspiration, since I am taking the opportunity to propose an Idea to the Malta Fishing Forum.

If we can draft a report with regards to a sample of 60 people (20 shore anglers, 20 boat anglers, 20 spearfisherman) and see how much their hobby costs and compare it to the equal value of divers and see what generates the most economic activities. Afterall politicians and governmnet always give priority to hobbies having a high economic activity. This will prompt the fishing community to the need of a fishing committee within the forum.

At the moment in my opinion we are being sold and treated second class to part-time fisherman ( they generate the lowest gdp contibution - proven in australia). Sport Fishing can create an impetus to new tourists and there is quite a large market to be honest. I did some previous study on the forum but in my opinion that study was rubbish. We ended arguing nonsensically and lost the scope.

sport fishing has to be linked to amateur fishing and sport fishing for migratory fish like albacore, bluefin tuna and dorado has to be promoted further. The concept of part time fisherman has to finish - I know some people in the forum who have this status, even myself have a license which I do not use but the concept is heavily abused and subject to black market.

I am willing to contribute in all this. It's time we start ourselves to protect our interest, not LET OTHERS LIKE MR ANASTASI TO PROTECT OUR INTEREST THE WAY IT SUITS THEM BEST. The local business fora in my opinion can do more, but they do not have the right kind of mentality (most are too much money driven - sorry). How can they have a profitful business if they do not protect their Market?

[Antonio Anastasi]

Granitu, I am always happy to come across people like yourself that have a passion for their past time, but I feel that I am being misinterpreted here.

I have no profit or hidden agenda from trying to create the CIRKEWWA VOLUNTARY MARINER RESERVE.

The diving community has for many years been arguing about the need for the protection of the marine environment. In my case since 1985 when I was a rabid fanatic wanting all fish protected and that all people that harm these be stopped.

Since then, being human and getting older, making friends of spear fishermen, anglers and fishermen, and learning to listen, I came to realize that we all have one thing in common. We all love the sea, and spending time on it, or near it, wether we are fishing, or diving, wether we catch anything or not, we treasure what we see and the escape from the problems the sea gives us.

The concern of the Cirkewwa Voluntary marine reserve group is all about protecting that right to share the sea. It is not about the divers imposing their ideas on the other groups, far from it...we are saying let us sit down and talk and discuss on how we can protect this area...TOGETHER. Let us see how we can share the sea with respect to each groups' desires. Let us put together a code of conduct that will not only allow us to share the area but also protect it by sustainable practices.

In order for this to happen we need representatives from the various groups and clubs or federations to be part of a management committee  in order to speak up for the interest of the fishermen and anglers.

Please please do your research, but use a wider sample than the one that you are suggesting, that will be a good tool for you. Also use the same passion and energy by contributing a sustainable code of practice for the Cirkewwa area.

For a long time now I have been arguing with some divers that we cannot claim Cirkewwa, or any part of the sea for our exclusive use.. we are after all the last of a long line of users to the site that have appeared..after all unlike anglers and fishermen, divers have only been around for the last 40 years compared to the centuries that fishermen have been around. There are probably fishermen that have been going to Cirkewwa since they were kid when they went there with their fathers, who previously went there with their fathers who went there with their's

The sea is NO ONES exclusive property, so of all the passionate things you mention I would disagree with you on one matter..you cannot ask that the part time fishermen category be removed. They have as much right to use the sea as we have. I also understand that the (is it the MFA?? ) have got sustainable fishing practices based on local fisheries regulations as part of their statute.

[Granitu]

thanks for your response but after learning how things work in Malta, this is a country where you can trust no one.

The code of practice should be extended to all areas not just Cirkewwa. Being a fellow spearfishing myself and an avid fisherman, I know for sure that there are richer places in fauna and fish than cirkewwa and by far!!!

one should protect his own interest but it is not enough. It has to be extended further and governments matter only money. I work in the accountancy profession I know myself how flexible the authorities can be to clients (thank god it is this way).

"The sea is NO ONES exclusive property, so of all the passionate things you mention I would disagree with you on one matter..you cannot ask that the part time fishermen category be removed. They have as much right to use the sea as we have. I also understand that the (is it the MFA?? ) have got sustainable fishing practices based on local fisheries regulations as part of their statute. "

True but the system is being heavily abused and I reported such abuses, i cannot say what I found because there are lawsuits going on.

To curb abuse at times, you need to restrict the law. To be further informed, one good thing that the government will be doing intention is to to eliminate part time fisherman and degrade them to MFC. MFC rights will be extended but what part time fisherman are doing at times is they declare up to their mimmum to retain their license and sell through black market the other fish.


I have sensitive date I compiled for a particular job that shows a very particular trend. The data is also in the authorities possession.

[Granitu]

correction : Part time fisherman rights will be revamped and structured in a similar ruling to MFC regulations. Minimum Quota structure is likely to be eliminated. Part-time fishing will be allowed but at different conditions.