Malta’s waters could become home to the country’s first-ever deep-water offshore fish farm, with environmental authorities currently weighing up a proposal for a large aquaculture farm 22km from Malta’s south-eastern shore.
The proposal, first submitted in 2022 and reported on by MaltaToday, is the work of Pierre Balzan on behalf of Seaculture Ltd, a Maltese-Israeli consortium with experience in the marine industries.
A new project description statement drafted by environmental consultancy firm AIS Environment and submitted earlier this year is now under the spotlight of the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA), with the agency yet to determine whether the proposal will be subject to a full Environmental Impact Assessment.
The farm aims to produce anywhere between 5,000 and 8,000 tonnes of cultivated organisms each year, which would make their way to local and foreign markets. The proposal does not specify what types of fish the farm will produce.
It will be comprised of a series of 100m by 100m square platforms, each connected to four 50m by 50m submerged cages, together with a lifeboats and a helipad on deck to transport staff between the facility and the mainland.
In total, the farm’s footprint will take up some 90,000 square metres of the sea.
It will be in waters between 100m and 140m deep, with the platforms set to be placed at the area’s deepest point.
The platforms are set to rise to some 20m above sea level, with gantry cranes reaching 36m above the water.
The proposed farm lies outside the area in Malta’s waters earmarked for aquaculture projects, but the applicants are arguing that planning rules allow for new aquaculture zones to be set up when required.
It will also be located in a spot where boat traffic is particularly low, the report says, with just two hours of vessel activity recorded per month.
Nevertheless, the farm could have some adverse effects, the report says.
“The presence of large quantities of reared fish may attract large marine fish,” with some of them being caught or injured accidentally, it says. Meanwhile, detritus from the farm could cause harm to seagrass and ecosystems on the seabed.
The farm will also be located in a Natura 2000 site, the report notes, raising some concerns over how it will affect seabirds who tend to roost in coastal cliffs.
“Excessive lighting can disorient seabirds active at night, causing collisions with the platform structure,” the report warns.
There are believed to be six fish farms littered across Malta’s territorial waters, all of them much closer to the shore – and in shallower waters – than the proposed farm. Most farms breed bluefin tuna, although some also broaden their scope to farm other species such as seabream and seabass.
Fish farming has become an increasingly lucrative business in recent years, now accounting for roughly 1% of Malta’s economy. According to NSO figures, aquaculture contributed some €319 million to Malta’s economy in 2022, the bulk of which was from tuna farming.