Fighting Extiction

P is a boat builder. For some people it could be a job, for him it is a passion. He is driven by an ambition to restore traditional Maltese boats and to build some of the crafts which are no longer around. He is a precious piece of a puzzle I have been dying to solve.

Traditional Maltese boats are on the way to extinction. How many new ones have been built in recent years? Will fishermen replace the ones they still use or will they opt for craft less unique but cheaper or more cost-efficient? I have gone from interest to concern and then to near panic as I have been asked to champion the interests of groups of fishermen over the years.

In St Julian's the fishermen of this once traditional fishing village have come under pressure from the tourism industry. First their boathouses were taken over and transformed into restaurants then the quays became promenades and spaces for outdoor restaurants. They have become guests in their own house restricted in the times they can bring a boat ashore for maintenance or repair, hassled for leaving tackle on the quay.

It is the same everywhere from Marsaskala to Mgarr. Fishermen are poorly organised and rarely unable to withstand the combined force of restaurateurs, the local council and the police. ironically their boats are icons par excellence of everything Maltese. Enter a souvenir shop and count how many separate items showing a Luzzu or a Dghajsa you can pick out in five minutes' browsing. It is hard to believe that anything so iconic is so heavily persecuted. the latest has been the takeover of the PO Customs Shed in Pieta with no alternative offered to boat owners.

The reasoning is that other businesses make more money. Nobody stops to consider that together the fishermen and boatman keep alive a feature which is absolutely essential for the "real" businessmen to make money.

The boats may be dead already although they last for long ages individually. When people like P give up or fail to pass on the skills they safeguard, the boats will be dead even if several examples remain. Every one that is left to rot on a quay is more than just one less if no new ones can be built.

For these boats to survive an economic justification must sustain them. What is the number of new constructions per year needed to keep the craft of boat building alive? Is there a demand for such a number? If not how can demand be increased and sustained in a permanent manner? can the MTA, local councils, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and all other responsible get together and form a binding policy to sustain the traditional boats? They need more than rhetoric. if the republic of Malta claimed a right to royalties for the use of any picture containing a traditional boat even if it meant collecting a fraction of one cent per postcard, significant funds could be found. If sponsors could be found to build a large Speronara, the link between Malta and the outside world for many centuries, it could be Malta's roving ambassador in the Mediterranean. Perhaps we can persuade one of our more affluent citizens to commission the construction of one of them for use as his yacht. Perhaps others can be persuaded to use a fregatina as a tender. How about a race between traditional crafts rigged with sails? Would they not make a fine start event to the Middlesea Race and other major nautical events?

My jigsaw puzzle is still far from taking shape but meeting P has been a special boost. Now how to link him with the friends I made in Cyprus who built a classic warship, with other groups seeking to safeguard their own nautical traditions around the Mediterranean and beyond, with the Cottonera waterfront project and with the Grand Harbour regeneration idea? Do the people very slowly rebuilding a Gozo ferry in Mgarr want to play a part? How can I find the time to get this thing together? Who can help?

Having a dream is great. It is even better when you find that it is shared. Who else has a passion for sailing, for sailing history, for our traditional boats?

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