Blue economy sectors

Malta has 6 marine aquaculture operators, 5 tuna fattening farms and one closed-cycle seabream farm. The farms are spread over 9 different sites. The sector provides employment for 197 FTE as well as 767 indirect FTE. The annual production is 19,291 MT (2018). The policy of the Government is to target 5MT of closed-cycle aquaculture annually, develop a hatchery and increase FTE (up to 1185).

Maritime transport has been a catalyst of economic development and prosperity throughout the history of the country. Malta has two mayor ports, the Malta Freeport and the Port of Valletta. More than 90% of all goods entering and leaving Malta go through these ports. The port of Marsaxlokk is the base of 70% of the county’s fishing fleet and is handling about 2.8 million Twenty-Foot Equivalent. The port of Valletta is a multi-purpose port equipped for a large number of maritime services such as cruise liner and cargo berths, bunkering facilities, ship building yards and storage facilities (Source: Malta Marittima).

Malta uses a total of 180,000 Tons per year of fossil fuel and produces 133,419 MWh of renewable energy of which 58 MWh is wind energy, 125,054 MWh solar energy and 8,307 MWh of biogas. For a large part of its fossil fuel it is dependent on Sicily. The Government strongly considers the exploration of blue renewable energy opportunities. The four main blue energy areas that are being focused upon for further study are: offshore wind farms, floating photovoltaic islands, tidal wave energy conversion and blue geothermal renewable energy (Source : Malta Marittima).