Fish farm operators have hastily dispatched men armed with buckets to Kalanka Bay, following reports of sea slime in the Delimara area. 

The makeshift clean-up operation, which also involves the use of absorbent tubes used to skim slime off the sea's surface, comes hours after Times of Malta reported that widespread slime at the nearby St Peter's Pool was keeping sunseekers ashore.

Fish farm operators have blamed the slime on a particular sort of feed, which they say contained 30 per cent more fat than their usual feed. They have suggested binding themselves to a June 2017 deadline, by which time they must have relocated their cages.

READ: What's wrong with this photo of St Peter's Pool?

Operators have been given until next Thursday to tell the Planning Authority how they will move their cages further offshore and limit the environmental impact of their industry.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.