The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) has said it is looking into reports of a slimy residue left on sand in Ħondoq Bay.
The reports follow slime suspected to originate from a fish farm off St Paul’s Bay washing into the popular tourist spot earlier last week.
The authority confirmed it had received reports of the residue on Friday afternoon and is investigating.
Qala mayor Paul Buttigieg said the residue had covered “the whole beach”, and seemed to be caused by slime that washed into the bay “soaking into the sand”.
He said “a lot of people complained” about the sand when he visited the bay last week and that he had also received private messages about the issue. Visitors to the popular spot had left soon after arriving, he said.
Visitors to the popular spot had left soon after arriving- Paul Buttigieg
Noting that such an occurrence had not happened before, Buttigieg said some people had told him they had difficulty washing the residue off their skin after visiting the area and that it was affecting tourism in the area. “It should never happen but it’s worse at this time of year... it’s totally unacceptable,” he said.
Buttigieg called for tuna farm operators to be “more cautious” in their operations, adding it “shows how right we [Qala local council] were to oppose the proposed fish farm close to Qala Point.”
The sand also attracted the ire of social media users, with one Facebook user calling the incident of slime in the bay “really disgusting... the sand is still full of oil and even in the water”.
Another Facebook user wrote that she had visited Ħondoq Bay on Friday, where she had seen “evidence of the slime and grease… even [on] the sand at the edge where the little ones were playing”.
The slime that washed into Ħondoq Bay last week was not the first such incident in the country. In May last year, swimmers in Marsaxlokk were forced back on land after large slicks of slime washed up at St Peter’s Pool.
And in August 2022, swimmers in bays across the east coast were forced to retreat from the water when slicks of slime hit bays in Pembroke, Balluta and Exiles.
In January last year, the government backtracked on plans to build a tuna farm off Malta’s north coast after resistance from Qala local council. In comments to Times of Malta at the time, a spokesperson for the fisheries ministry said the plans were being reconsidered to protect the country’s “pristine marine zones”.