Mur Lura
Development and sustainability in Marine environment
pr1469
10/10/2001
10/10/2001
| The Minister for the Environment, Dr Francis Zammit | Dimech stated that he was pleased to speak about the marine environment as this presents one of our greatest assets not only for our tourist industry but also for our fisheries industry and our island’s needs for potable water. |
| Dr Francis Zammit Dimech was speaking during the | launching of a fund-raising activity in connection with marine environment, organised by Planet Sea Productions in St. George’s Bay; and said that our marine environment is so important that it features prominently in regional and international agreements, in the Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands, in the Sewage Master Plan and in the Environment Act, 2001. |
| The Minister for the Environment noted that the | marine environment is of major importance for our tourist industry and our water requirements. This entails that our sea-water is of the best quality. He said that from samples taken by the Department of Public Health from 96 bathing sites over a 23 week period between May and October it transpires that this year bathing was temporarily not recommended for bathing for 56 site days, which are the number of sampling sites multiplied by the number of days. |
| This is a far cry from the 964 site days of 1994 and | is the result of the works carried out on the drainage system under the Sewage Master Plan. Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that under this plan new drainage mains were laid, pumping stations were built or modernised and provided with generators so that they could be kept on steam whenever the electricity supply fails. Through these works bathing areas including St Julians’s Bay, Marsascala and Birzebbuga where given back to the bathers after years of contamination from sewage. |
| The seas around us will be much cleaner when in the | next five years all sewage will be treated before it overflows into the sea through the construction of sewage treatment plants. |
| The Minister for the Environment said that following | the enactment of the new Environment Protection Act 2001 a set of regulations were issued. Regulations on water quality include pollution caused by certain dangerous substances discharged into the aquatic environment and which provide for the implementation of measures to eliminate aquatic pollution. |
| Dr Francis Zammit Dimech said that last week the | Cabinet approved the revised Solid Waste Management Strategy for the Maltese Islands. Even though this is a strategy for solid waste it also treats marine dumping. This strategy aims to ban landfilling and marine dumping of fish tissue from aquaculture and related industry by 2003 unless such waste is first treated. By 2004 this Strategy targets to ban dumping at sea of nikel and copper grit resulting from ship repair and maintenance. The Strategy aims to ban by 2004 dumping at sea of sewage sludge and to utilize such residue in the composting process. |
| Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that, shortly | after the conclusion of the meeting of the Contracting Parties of the Barcelona Convention, which was held in Malta in December 2000, the Ministry for the Environment signed a contract with one of the Regional Activity Centres of the Mediterranean Action Programme (MAP) for the preparation of a Coastal Areas Management Programme for Malta (CAMP Malta). |
| The objective of CAMP Malta is to contribute towards | the sustainable management and environment protection of the coast of Malta. Francis Zammit Dimech said that Malta, being a small island, makes intensive use of its coastal areas for industrial activities, tourism, recreational purposes and the production of water from reverse osmosis plants. Among these economic activities there are areas of ecological importance and others of great natural beauty. |
| The Minister for the Environment said that these | areas need to be managed so that living creatures which depend on the marine environment can survive. The Minister said that towards this end a pilot project is being conducted in the north west of the island. This is based on the fundamental principles of sustainable development and of public participation. Francis Zammit Dimech said that sustainable development envisages the achievement of continued economic and social development but without the detriment to the environment and natural resources. |
| The Minister for the Environment said that the | Government continues to provide those structures and policies to ensure that development in Malta is sustainable. These structures include the Planning Authority charged with the regulation and control of land use which include our beaches, the Environment Protection Department which following the enactment of the Environment Protection act has been designated by the Minister for the Environment as the ‘competent authority’ in terms of the same law. |
| The main actor in this tripartite interaction in the | development and sustainability of our marine environment is the individual person who makes all the difference and without his cooperation we will never attain our aims. Together - the Government, civil society, the NGOs, the public – we can give our marine environment a sustainable future. A future that will benefit our generation and future generations. |
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