Sea slime – or foam – result of strong swells and stormy weather, aquaculture producers insist as public cries foul

Widespread sea foam across the coasts yesterday morning had nothing to do with fish farms, the Federation of Maltese Aquaculture Producers (FMAP) has insisted, despite the fact that the public at large is crying foul and laying the blame squarely at their feet.

A number of aerial photographs making the rounds yesterday showed significant amounts of sea slime around the coast.

The federation, after saying its members had carried out an on-site investigation, insisted that the patches observed in St Julian’s “have nothing to do with any release oil from farms.”

The slime, it explained, “is the result of a natural occurrence caused by very strong swells and stormy weather surrounding the Maltese Islands last night.” The explanation was widely ridiculed. In a statement later in the day, the FMAP took exception to the use of the word ‘slime’ and insisted proper term was ‘foam’, which, it said, “is caused naturally and has nothing to do with fish farms.”

“This,” it claimed, “has been confirmed by the Environment and Resources Authority, which has stated on several occasions that this type of substance has nothing to do with fish farms.”

The federation said that, through its operators, it was meanwhile “carrying out inspections along the coast to clean up any type of flotsam (not necessarily tuna-related) generated as a result of the heavy storms surrounding Malta.”