Consumer Regulations + Labelling & Price
Malta as a full member of the European Union is bound by the respective Regulations as derived from the common European legal framework. The obligations where consumer regulations are concerned and mainly in respect of the offering for sale of fishery products are mainly derived from Regulation (EU) No 1379/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11th December 2013. Further legal obligations are followed by the obligations as laid down in the National legal framework by Act 425.02
Where consumer information is concerned the Regulation addresses the obligations of buyers to label all the fishery products offered for sale by specific information as referred below:
• The commercial designation of the species and its scientific name;
• The production method, in particular by the following words "… caught …" or "… caught in freshwater …" or "… farmed …”
• The area where the product was caught or farmed, and the category of fishing gear used in capture of fisheries,
• Whether the product has been defrosted;
These obligations are continuously monitored by Fisheries inspections through an ongoing inspection programme at retail outlets offering for sale fishery products.
Link with EFCA-JDP
Council regulation (EC) No 768/2005 of 26th April 2005 established a Community Fisheries Control Agency and further on amended to European Fisheries Control Agency and commonly referred to as EFCA. By means of Decisions No 2017/05 of the Executive Director of the EFCA as amended in the progressive years establishes a Joint Inspection Plan which organises the joint use of the national means of control and inspection pooled by Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain in order to give effect to the common rules and target inspection benchmarks as laid down in Commission Implementing Decision 2018/1986/EU.
The planning and coordination of the EFCA JDP is managed between Member states through the Steering Group meetings until the start of the BFT campaign when the coordination is done through the Technical Joint Deployment Group, which is set at the EFCA headquarters in Vigo, Spain. The TJDG is composed of experts from EFCA with deployment of National Experts from the concerned Member States. The main aim of the TJDG is to coordinate the fore planned missions, both at sea at in ports and serve as a communication portal between the concerned parties. The main aim of the EFCA JDP is to plan the monitoring and control of the BFT campaign taking into consideration the most common fishing ground and the fishing effort conducted therein through VMS monitoring and liaising with member States and their control vessels.
Follow up of infringements- control room
Although the Maltese Islands have only 140 km length of continental coastline, the Maltese Fisheries Management Zone (FMZ) has an overall area of 11 980 km2, thus in late 2012 the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture (DFA) established a Fisheries Monitoring Centre (FMC) with the main task of monitoring the Maltese fishing fleet wherever it maybe as per Article 9 (7) of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009.
The FMC has a complement of one Senior Fisheries Protection Officer (SFPO) and six Fisheries Protection Officers (FPO’s). the main function of the Fisheries Monitoring Centre is to monitor al the Maltese fishing vessels which are tracked by Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS) or similar devices. The FMC is operational 24 hours per day for the duration of the whole year.
The VMS is installed on fishing vessels above 12 metres as per Article 9 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1224/2009. Malta have taken further steps to install similar devices on smaller vessels.
To further complement the FMC, the officers can monitor fishing vessels using the Automatic Identification System AIS (for fishing vessels above 15 metres) these messages are received every six minutes thus enabling monitoring of a fishing vessel in near real time as per Article 10 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1244/2009, with regards to AIS Malta is currently participating with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) in various pilot projects to enhance the FMC monitoring capability.
The General packet radio service (GPRS) is used for small scale fisheries that mainly operate within the 25 nautical mile (FMZ), messages are received approximately every twenty minutes, the GPRS equipment is installed on all vessels from 6 metres to 9
The Electronic logbook is also installed on the fishing fleet above 12 metres; with the E-log book the officers at the FMC are able to monitor a fishing vessel catch prior to a pre notification for landing.
Until all vessels are equipped with tracking devices, the FMC deals with the remaining fishing fleet not equipped with a tracking device by coordinating landings of catches and vessels inspections with FPO’s of the DFA.
Another task is to monitor Community and 3rd Country fishing vessels when they enter Malta’s FMZ to ensure that they are fully compliant.
Malta FMC also leases with the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) Transport Malta (TM); other Coastal Member States, European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) and the European Commission with regards to fisheries issues.
Main Ports
List of designated ports for the purpose of transshipment specifying their operating hours,
Authorized Ports for Landing/Transhipment of fishery products and Entry of foreign vessels into CPC ports
|
Marfa
/Ċirkewwa
|
EU Malta
|
MT CKW 1F2
|
35.989
|
14.329
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
1
|
|
Marsaxlokk
|
EU Malta
|
MT MAR 1F5
|
35.833
|
14.533
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
1
|
|
Mġarr (Gozo)
|
EU Malta
|
MT MGZ 1F1
|
36.017
|
14.283
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
1
|
|
Valletta
|
EU Malta
|
MT MLA 1F4
|
35.883
|
14.500
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
2
|
|
St.Paul’s Bay
|
EU Malta
|
MT SPB 1F6
|
35.947
|
14.389
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
3
|
|
Marsalforn (Gozo)
|
EU Malta
|
MT MFN 1F9
|
36.071
|
14.259
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
3
|
|
Msida
|
EU Malta
|
MT MSD 1F3
|
35.896
|
14.493
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
4
|
|
San Ġiljan
|
EU Malta
|
MT STG 1F7
|
35.919
|
14.491
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
4
|
|
Marsascala
|
EU Malta
|
MT MSC 1F10
|
35.865
|
14.565
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
4
|
|
Marsamxett
|
EU Malta
|
MT MSX 1F0
|
35.901
|
14.508
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
5
|
|
Malta Freeport Terminal
|
EU Malta
|
MT DIS 1F0
|
35.818
|
14.540
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
5
|
|
Key
|
|
AuthID
|
Description
|
|
1
|
Ports in which the
landing of all species is permitted
|
|
2
|
Ports in which both
transhipment and landing of all species is permitted, and to which foreign
fishing vessels may request entry
|
|
3
|
Ports in which the
landing of all species, except E-BFT and trawled fish, is permitted
|
|
4
|
Ports in which the
landing of dolphinfish (DOL) is permitted
|
|
5
|
Ports in which vessels
may request access for port services
|
List of designated ports, specifying their operating hours 1 month after the entry into force of a multiannual plan & after approval by the Commission
Authorized Ports for 1) Landing/Transhipment EBFT and 2) Entry of foreign vessels into CPC ports
|
Port Identification
|
Specific Authorization
|
|
Port Name
|
Country
|
Port Code
(UN/LOCODE)
|
Latitude
(+North/-South)
|
Longitude
(+East/-West)
|
Date Auth From
(dd/mm/yyyy)
|
Date Auth To
(dd/mm/yyyy)
|
Permitted Times
(HH:MM to HH:MM)
|
Type of Authorization (AuthType)
|
|
M’Xlokk
|
EU Malta
|
MTMAR
|
35.833
|
14.533
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
2
|
|
Valletta
|
EU Malta
|
MTMLA
|
35.883
|
14.500
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
5
|
|
Ċirkewwa /Marfa
|
EU Malta
|
MTCKW
|
35.989
|
14.329
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
2
|
|
Mġarr Gozo
|
EU Malta
|
MTMGZ
|
36.017
|
14.283
|
01/01/2021
|
31/12/2021
|
H 24
|
2
|
| St.Paul’s Bay |
EU Malta |
MTSPB |
35.947 |
14.389 |
01/01/2021 |
31/12/2021 |
H24 |
2 |
| Marsalforn (Gozo) |
EU Malta |
MTMFN |
36.071 |
14.259 |
01/01/2021 |
31/12/2021 |
H24 |
2 |
| Gnejna |
EU Malta |
MTGNE |
35.923 |
14.342 |
01/01/2021 |
31/12/2021 |
H24 |
2 |
|
Key
|
|
PortAuth TypeID
|
PortAuth TypeCode
|
Description
|
|
1
|
BFT_Transhipment
|
Ports in
which the transhipment of BFT-E is permitted
|
|
2
|
BFT_Landing
|
Ports in
which the landing of BFT-E is permitted
|
|
3
|
BFT_Both
|
Ports in
which both transhipment and landing of BFT-E is permitted
|
|
4
|
Foreign_Vessels
|
Ports to which the foreign vessels may request entry
|
|
5
|
BFT
and Foreign Vessels
|
Ports in which both transhipment and landing of BFT-E is
permitted, and to which foreign fishing vessel may request entry
|
|
6
|
BFT
Landing and Foreign
|
Ports in which landing of BFT-E is permitted, and to which
foreign fishing vessel may request entry
|
|
7
|
BFT
Transhipment and Foreign
|
Ports in which transhipment of BFT-E is permitted, and to which
foreign fishing vessel may request entry
|
Associated conditions for recording and reporting the quantities of species under the multiannual plan for each landing:
1.Every fisher must inform the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture 4 hours prior to entrance of ports and call on 22926888
2.Landing of all the catches of Bluefin tuna, Swordfish, Lampara, Tartarun and Trawled fisheries should be in an authorised designated port in accordance with the tables above.
3.Commercialization of the above species without the necessary control and traceability documents is prohibited.
4.All gears should be marked and identified according to Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 404/2011 of 8 April 2011 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No1224/2009 establishing a Community control system for ensuring compliance with the rules of the Common Fisheries Policy
Duration of closure and the conditions governing fisheries in Mediterranean during the closure
The Mediterranean is the geographical area of affected fishing grounds. The following is the duration of closure and the conditions governing fisheries in Mediterranean during the closure
Swordfish
- Mediterranean swordfish shall not be caught, either as targeted species or as by-catch, retained on board, transhipped or landed during the closure period. The closure period shall be from 1 January to 31 March of each year.
- In order to protect Mediterranean swordfish, a closure period shall apply to longline vessels targeting Mediterranean albacore (Thunnus alalunga) from 1 October to 30 November of each year.
- Landings of Mediterranean swordfish shall only be permitted to be landed measuring not less than 100 cm lower jaw to fork length (LJFL); or (b) weighing less than 11,4 kg of live weight, or 10,2 kg of gilled and gutted weight.
- Only entire specimens of Mediterranean swordfish, without removal of any external part, or gilled and gutted specimens, may be retained on board, transhipped landed or carried in the first transport after landing.
The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture reserves the right to close the SWO fishing season at any time on the basis of the quota exhaustion.
Lampuki fish aggregating device (FAD)
- The Lampuki fishery is open for authorised fishers, from the 15th of August till the 31st December of each year.
- In years with prevalent bad weather conditions during the open season, the fishery will be extended for an equivalent number of lost days until the end of January of the following year.
- The fishery is restricted by a minimum mesh size of 14mm.
- The specific conditions of these fisheries are as listed on the authorisation conditions as issued by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture
Bluefin tuna longline and purse seine
- Long line fisheries for bluefin tuna shall be open for authorised fishers between the 15th of May till the 31st of December of each year but specifically on the basis of the quota as allocated to each authorised fisher and on the authorisation conditions as issued by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
- Purse seine fishing for bluefin tuna shall be permitted in the eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean from 26 May to 1st July.
- All BFT caught shall be marked with the official tags as provided by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture
- The Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture reserves the right to close the BFT fishing season at any time on the basis of the quota exhaustion.
Traditional Maltese seine net (Tartarun)
- The Tartarun fisheries is open for authorised fishers between the 25th of June till the 15th of August each year.
- The fishery is restricted by a minimum mesh size of 14mm
- The specific conditions of these fisheries are as listed on the authorisation conditions as issued by the Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Lampara
- This fishery is regulated through the provisions of Subsidiary Legislation 425.11 of the Laws of Malta
- The length of the permitted length shall not be more than 800 m and not deeper than 120 m.
- The fishery is restricted by a minimum mesh size of 14mm
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing
Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing is one of the major threats to sustainable fisheries worldwide. This undermines the fishing sector especially the small-scale fleet which is the most vulnerable in the sector. IUU fishing activities also pose a threat to fisheries management and conservation efforts, and are responsible for important data gaps which undermine scientific advice. To address this issue, it is important that all the countries operate at the same level. The Maltese authorities ensure that control measures are in place to mitigate any possibility of IUU fishing in the waters under Malta’s jurisdiction.
The international day promoting awareness of the need to combat IUU fishing is the 5th June following a decision made by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)
Fishing Journal Reporting
Malta, as a full member of the European Union, is subject to the relevant regulations derived from the common European legal framework. Under Council Regulation 1224/2009, specifically Articles 14 to 25, and Commission Implementing Regulation 404/2011, fishermen are required to complete a Fishing Journal. Annexes are provided to offer guidance on the information that should be entered in the paper logbook.
- GSA Fishing Positions / Zones