The financiers of the Provincial command of Palermo, during three separate operations, seized ninety specimens of bluefin tuna and nine untraceable specimens of swordfish, for a total of approximately ten tons of fish. In the first intervention, the yellow flames of Bagheria identified some vans coming from the port of Porticello, in Santa Flavia, which at night proceeded towards a fishmonger’s warehouse in Bagheria, where sixteen specimens of bluefin tuna that did not have the document were stored of capture where the traceability of the different phases of the supply chain is guaranteed from its capture to subsequent marketing.
Fish without documentation
In the second intervention, the soldiers, following the vans, which had also left from Porticello, identified an illegal warehouse managed by a trader who did not have VAT and Scia, where 44 tuna and nine specimens of swordfish were found, also in this case without the mandatory documents to guarantee the traceability of the exploitation chain. Of these 25 specimens were undersized. In the third intervention with the harbor master’s office, the financiers found 30 tuna without documentation on their origin in the warehouse of a company in Bagheria in the wholesale sector of fish products.
The sanctions
Those responsible were reported to the maritime authority and to the regional department for productive activities for the confiscation of the untraceable catch and a sanction ranging from a minimum of 1,000 euros to a maximum of 6,000 euros, a sanction increased by one third as the species bluefin tuna fish is considered at risk of extinction. The trader of the illegal warehouse was fined for carrying out a commercial activity without authorization which includes fines ranging from 12,500 euros to 150,000 euros, the first, and from a minimum of 1,549 euros to a maximum of 15,493 euros, the second. The 10 tons of tuna and swordfish seized, having been certified as fit for food consumption by the local health authority, were given to charity at the Western Sicily food bank.
Tracking rules
The fishing of specimens subjected to seizure is governed by strict quota and tracking rules aimed, on the one hand, at preventing fish products that are unsafe for the health of consumers from being placed on the market and, on the other, at guaranteeing the survival of these species at risk of extinction due to intensive fishing also supported by a thriving black market that continuously searches for these products for their delicacy and for the huge profits deriving from their sale.
The checks carried out by the Fiamme Gialle therefore pursue a dual purpose: that of guaranteeing that commercial activities that operate legally do not suffer competition from those who operate in violation of the law, and that of preventing the trade of non-genuine and unsafe products from damaging the local and national fish market, characterized by high quality standards through complete traceability of the exploitation chain.
