Migrant boats from Libya skipping Malta – Italian Minister

Italian Foreign Affairs Minister Angelino Alfano has said that it is not possible for Sicily to be considered as the nearest safe port for migrants leaving Libya when Tunisia and Malta, which are much closer to the migrant routes, are being excluded.

Mr Alfano’s concerns were quoted by Sicilian newspaper CataniaOggi. “This issue is quite worrying,” he says. The courts in Catania have ordered an investigation into the reasons why vessels saving migrant lives from Libya are bypassing our tiny island and Tunisia.

The Sicilian newspaper looked into the matter following a news report which was aired during Striscia la Notizia on Canale 5. Journalists from this production house chased down a young video blogger, a certain Luca Donadel, who carried out an investigation which shows how ships engaged in migrant rescue operations head straight towards Sicily, ignoring Malta and Tunisia.

Donadel explained that, according to the United Nations maritime law, persons saved in international waters should be taken to the closest safe port. In many cases, the rescued migrants should either be taken to the port of Zarzis in Tunisia, which is 90 nautical miles away, or Malta, which sits 180 nautical miles from Libya. Sicily is 250 miles away from Libya.

The declaration by the Italian Minister brings back a question which has been the subject of much speculation – how did migrants suddenly stop reaching

companies had more cages than they are allowed and others had bigger or deeper cages than what is stipulated in their permits.

Some were farming types of fish they are not allowed to breed. Some were also found to be using a type of feeding method, which used bait with a higher fat content than the norm, which was leading to the slime often seen around popular bays.

It was also explained that frozen fish was being let to defrost inside the cages, releasing fish oil which turns into foam when it reaches the coast.

The sludge had caused widespread anger from the population throughout 2016 after it plagued a number of bays around the Maltese Islands, particularly the eastern and southern parts of Malta, so much so that clear distinct large patch of sea sludge was visible from an aerial view.

In September 2017, the Planning Authority voted for the revocation of permits of fish farms which were found to have illegalities.

The following October, six illegal pens had been removed in the St Paul’s Bay area, leaving eight pens permitted.

However, in the same month people had already found fish intestines and fins floating around Ghadira Bay in Mellieha.

By January 2017, the ‘Stop the Slime’ claimed that a new illegal tuna pen had been added to the eight stipulated by law.

This, the group claims, runs contrary to the Unilateral Undertaking Declaration which says that there should be 8 pens.

“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],” a social media post read.

“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.”

The Ministry for the Environment has not responded to questions sent by The Malta Independent.