Transport Malta has issued notices to mariners aimed at protecting threatened Yelkouan Shearwater seabirds by limiting maritime activities near nine sites around Malta and Gozo.

The notices were issued as a result of a partnership with BirdLife, which runs the LIFE Arċipelagu Garnija project. The environment ministry has also partnered the LIFE project  by promoting a review of policies on outdoor lighting – with a much sharper focus on light pollution in coastal and natural areas in the Maltese Archipelago.

Malta hosts 10% of the global population of the Yelkouan Shearwater, a seabird
which only lives in the Mediterranean and Black seas. These vulnerable seabirds
breed inside burrows in caves and on sheer cliffs between January and July.

Because they are active only at night and the chicks stay inside the burrows during the day, people are not aware of them when they visit the sites.

But the breeding process is impacted when large boats creating noise and light pollution approach the cliffs or enter the caves.  

The nine sites covered by the Notices to Mariners are: L-Irdum tal-Madonna, l-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa; Santa Marija Caves, Comino; Cominotto; St. Paul’s Islands; Majjistral Nature and History Park; Miġra l-Ferħa; Blue Grotto, Żurrieq; Ta’ Ċenċ, Gozo and Dwejra, Gozo.

The notices to mariners create buffer zones around those sites and restrict lighting and noise. 

The notices can be found here and here.