Fishing in conservation zones: OHSA called to action

In parallel with the protests being sent to the Minister for Fisheries for allowing fishing (trolling) in conservation areas around wrecks (for which almost 80 of you have joined), we have submitted the following letter last Sunday the 3 March to the Occupational Health & Safety Authority (OHSA).

The letter calls for the OHSA to recognise and pressure authorities to retract this policy which risks the life & limb of professional diving instructors, guides and their customers, as well as all local divers diving these sites. The letter was also copied to the relevant authorities as you may see below.

As of the time of publishing of this article, we have received an acknowledgement of receipt of the communication from the OHSA and Transport Malta, but no one else.

Dear OHSA Chairperson and CEO,

I wish to bring to your attention the clear and present danger to Diving Instructors and Diving Guides (apart from local and visiting tourist divers) that is being empowered by the Ministry for Fisheries and Aquaculture and Transport Malta by not banning all but the necessary marine navigation within conservation areas around wrecks.

By virtue of Transport Malta’s Notice to Mariners 215 of 2023, issued on behalf of the Department for Fisheries and Aquaculture, which I am attaching, fishing vessels fishing for surface or pelagic fish are allowed to practice trolling (“sajd bir-rixa”) in these zones.

These pose a danger to the Instructors and Guides, as well as divers, due to moving fishing lines at both surface and/or below within the area immediately surrounding these wrecks. Additionally, the sound of engines in the vicinity is heard much closer for a diver in the water, possibly leading inexperienced or visiting divers unfamiliar with such noise to panic. The automatic reaction to panic by a diver is to hold their breath. Holding breath or getting snagged by a fishing hook may result in uncontrolled ascents, causing extreme danger to the diver, his instructor and/or guides as well as potential fatal consequences.

Notwithstanding that this danger has been raised in parliament via the recent PQs by the Hon. Ivan Bartolo via PQs 14073 and 14143, the response forthcoming by the Minister for Fisheries – given in the same period that the report of the public inquiry leading to the death of Jean Paul Sofia was published – stated that this is a “balanced” approach between the needs of recreational users and the livelihood of professional fishermen and their families.

This notwithstanding the fact that these sites are small in area (probably less than 1% of territorial waters close to shore) and would not realistically affect the livelihood of fishermen or their families, rather, they might serve to improve fish stocks in surrounding areas.

Myself and at least another 50 divers who have sent their protest to the Minister as of now over the last 24 hours, believe the Minister’s response to be irresponsible from a Health & Safety point of view.

The immediate and necessary measure needed to mitigate these risks is the removal of the one line in Notice to Mariners 215 of 2023 stating:

“Surface fishing including trolling line (rixa) and angling for pelagic fish is permitted within the Conservation Areas, subject that a safe distance is maintained from the position of the wrecks.”

The “safe distance” in the Notice to Mariners acknowledges the risk, but is ambiguous, leaving much scope for different interpretations.

Divers’ interpretation is that the only “safe distance” would be outside of the small delineated conservation zones and their shore entrances which at their largest, consist of little more than 2 football grounds as you may see from the online map maintained by the Malta Ranger Unit here which shows the context of these sites. An image is attached as well.

The long-term solution is for continued education and enforcement by entities such as Transport Malta, the Malta Police Force and the Armed Forces during their sea patrols. We remind authorities that the latter disciplined force unfortunately suffered the loss of one of its members in 2022 thanks to being hit by a boat, albeit not within one of these zones, but during breath-hold diving near St.Paul’s Bay even though this diver was apparently using a surface marker buoy. Similar near-misses have been reported multiple times over the last years in these conservation areas, both at surface and underneath. Unchecked, these near-misses or potential accidents will tend to increase due to the increased practice of freediving locally on both an individual as well as commercial basis, as well as the increased numbers of diving tourists.

More information may be obtained from the following links:

U-turn within 2 weeks — Conservation areas become fishing zones AGAIN!

Updated:Protest against the Minister’s balancing act: Fishing in conservation areas vs Diver Safety vs livelihood of fishermen

Your attention and support is kindly solicited to bring awareness to the relevant authorities to safeguard safety at the place of work for Instructors and Guides working within the diving industry, the 150,000+ visiting tourist divers as well as the hundreds of local divers. Given that such sites are widely advertised as part & parcel of the diving tourism product, even identifying Malta & Gozo as being the wreck diving destination of the Mediterranean, avoiding diving in such sites due to these risks is unspeakable, as is any potential accident which would destroy the effort done over the years by the Industry and the Authorities.

A copy of this letter will be in due course, following any or failing any feedback, posted on the website at www.divinginfo.mt as well as on our social media, and is being copied by email to the respective entities and responsible Ministers, as well as other news portals. I am refraining from further contacting international diving forums to gather support on this matter in order to protect the local reputation for safe diving which is being jeopardised by the inaction, and in my opinion, for just a handful of votes from irresponsible fishermen. I do not exclude it totally however, as the same international pressure has in the past helped to resolve individual cases such as the Stephen Martin case.

Further possible court action is being discussed within the diving community failing any action by the relevant authorities in order to attribute responsibility for such irresponsible policies should risks turn into incidents. Recently, past experience of lax regulation in the construction sector has been chastised at length in the Jean Paul Sofia inquiry report. We hope the same does not need to happen within the diving sector to see meaningful change.

I thank you for your time and interest, and apologise for the long email. Let’s make our seas safer!

Letter from divinginfo.mt to authorities

Copied in this correspondence:

• The Prime Minister
• Minister for Fisheries, Aquaculture and Animal Rights
• Minister for Transport
• Minister for Tourism and the Opposition’s shadow minister
• Minister for Justice (responsible for OHSA)
• Opposition MP Ivan Bartolo who had raised the relevant PQs
• Transport Malta
• Fisheries Department
• Malta Tourism Authority CEO
• Professional Diving Schools Association
• Local media portals Times of Malta, Newsbook and MaltaToday