Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party has commended the decision to revoke the permits for four fish farm operators.

Simon Galea – Alternattiva Demokratika Spokesperson on Agriculture and Animal Welfare said, "whilst commending the revocation of permits by the Planning Authority, AD remains sceptical because of the number of related enforcement orders issued and ignored in the recent past. Revoking operation permits is one thing whilst assuring that such illegal operations cease is another thing. Environmental justice is only restored when such illegal operations truly stop."

"weak enforcement, particularly on environmental issues, has always been the order of the day, thus leading to a degraded state of our environment," said Galea.

He added, "fish farm operations are no exception and infringements have been going on for a number of years, resulting in the issuing of a number of enforcement orders which in return have been ignored by the same operators."

"One of the negative impacts experienced has been contamination of our coastal waters with foamy and oily slime, preventing people from swimming.

He added, "moreover, this has caused damage to the country's economy, based on tourism. The dragging of feet by the authorities only ended after a public uproar."

"Where operators fail to cooperate then concrete measures should be taken including the towing away of cages and the release of the tuna fish in the illegal cages. This effective action is something which up to now no administration has had the courage to implement," concluded Simon Galea.

Permalink: Alternattiva Demokratika responds to tuna fish farm permits decision