A Census of Fisheries was undertaken in September 2006 to obtain structural and economic information on the fisheries sector in Malta. At the time of enumeration, 1,421 commercial fishing vessels were registered. 1,092 fishing vessels (76.8 per cent) were active while 329 fishing vessels (23.2 per cent) were found inactive. 5 fishing vessels, although active, were not taken into consideration as 2 of these vessels operate outside of the Mediterranean and 3 other fishing vessels are used as workboats. 816 active vessels were found in Malta while 276 active vessels were found in Gozo and Comino.

88.6 per cent of all active vessels are less than 10 metres long. The fishing fleet is characterized by different types of fishing vessels. 42.0 per cent of the active fishing fleet is Multi-purpose vessels (MPV's), while 34.4 per cent is the Kajjik. The majority of the active fishing vessels operate with an MFB license (68.3 per cent) while MFA licensed fishing vessels account for 31.7 per cent of all active fishing vessels.

Output of open sea fishing

In 2005, 1,921 tonnes of fresh fish yielding a total of Lm3.8m were landed. Dolphin fish (29.1 per cent), Swordfish (17.7 per cent) and Blue Fin Tuna (17.1 per cent) were the major species landed. These three species accounted for 63.9 per cent of all landings by open sea vessels. The catch depends on the type of license, and the type of vessel. MFA licensed vessels landed 87.2 per cent of all landings while MFB licensed vessels landed 12.8 per cent of the total catch.

Aquaculture and tuna farming

A total of 80 cages, with a surface area of 78,773 metres squared and a capacity of 1,758,534 cubic metres were revealed. The total production of farmed fish in 2005 amounted to 5.1 million kilograms yielding a value of Lm21.1m. Blue Fin Tuna, which accounted for 82.6 per cent of all farmed fish in weight, yielded Lm19.0m in 2005.

Employment in the fisheries sector

1,466 fishermen worked a total of 1.4 million hours in open sea fishing. 240 fishermen (16.4 per cent) worked on a full-time basis, working a total of 874,000 hours (62.4 per cent), an average of 3,642 hours per fisherman. On the other hand, 1,226 fishermen (83.6 per cent) worked a total of 525,568 hours (37.6 per cent) or on average 429 hours per fisherman. The majority of fishermen employed were males (98.8 per cent).

192 workers were employed in fish farming, of which 130 worked on a full-time basis and the remaining 62 workers employed on a part-time basis. In fish farming, 93.2 per cent of those employed were male.

Economic accounts for fisheries

Gross Fisheries Production in 2005 amounted to Lm25.7m. Open sea fishing and fish farming accounted for Lm25.0m (97.5 per cent) of all output while contractual services accounted for 2.5 per cent of the total output of the fisheries sector.

Total intermediate consumption of the fisheries sector in 2005 amounted to Lm16.3m. The structure of intermediate consumption differs from open sea fishing to fish farming. Whereas purchases of live fish, mainly tuna, accounted for 38.9 per cent of total intermediate consumption of fish farming, fuel and lubricants accounted for 50.1 per cent of the total intermediate consumption of open sea fishing.

The gross value added of the fisheries sector amounted to Lm9.4m in 2005, with open sea fishing contributing Lm1.9m in value added (20.4 per cent) while fish farming contributed Lm7.5m (78.1 per cent) to the gross value added of the sector.