Action against fish farms slime expected soon but no date yet

Slime and foam plaguing the length and breadth of the eastern coast is caused by irregular feeding practices by tuna farm operators, the authorities have finally admitted.
Environment Minister Jose Herrera has acknowledged the fish farming industry is riddled with abuse and promised the authorities will be taking “immediate” action.
Addressing a press conference with parliamentary secretaries Deborah Schembri and Roderick Galdes, the minister said the Planning Authority was ready to issue an emergency enforcement order on operators in breach of their permits.
However, the emergency order, which cannot be appealed, depends on the Environment and Resources Authority’s consent that the slime was “an imminent danger to the environment”.

Dr Herrera was not in a position to say when the environment authority would make its decision, adding it was “a matter of days” – he kept insisting the authority was autonomous and he had no right to order it to decide.
Environment authority chief executive Reuben Abela, also present for the conference, kept his mouth shut on this particular matter.
Planning Authority chief executive Johann Buttigieg said once the ERA took its decision an emergency...