New tuna pen spotted off St Paul’s Island – Stop the Slime environment group

A new tuna pen has reportedly been spotted off St. Paul’s Island, making it the ninth, an environment group called ‘Stop the Slime’ declared on a social media post.

“New tuna pen just added to the eight pens off St. Paul’s Island. Following the removal of the six illegal pens last October (leaving the permitted eight) a new pen has now been re-added last Friday morning.

“Plain for all to see from Xemxija, St. Paul’s Bay, Bugibba and Qawra there are now nine and not eight tuna pens (see image),” it wrote.

The social media group was formed following the discovery of foul smelling slime on a number of coasts, causing environmental damage, preventing swimmers from enjoying the waters and also reportedly sticking to people who were forced to come into contact with it.

A report commissioned by the Environment Ministry had found that the infamous sea sludge is, mostly came from the fish farms. It also found that four out of six fish farms in Malta, all of which operate tuna pens, have some form of infringement. Fish farm operators discovered that the slime was coming from fish bait, a type of feed, with a higher fat content than the norm.

The sighting of an added tuna pen has angered people even further due to the four fish farm operators that were ordered to remove illegal pens just last October. The social media post by Stop the Slime continued to say:

“Fish farm operators presented & signed a ‘Unilateral Undertaking Declaration’ last year on 19 September during the Planning Authority hearing agreeing to remove the illegal nets with ‘’the remaining 8 x 50m tuna cages are to be emptied by 31 December 2016’’ [Page 3, Para 3].

“2017 Maltese Presidency of the Council of the EU, is this the way to show the rest of Europe what good governance is when we can’t even take care of our own back garden???

“A classic case of two steps forward and one step back, if you care please share.”