Environmental enforcers have cracked down on perma-campers at Comino's only campsite.

The crackdown comes nine months after Times of Malta exposed the semi-permanent structures that littered the Tal-Ful campsite, and coincides with activist action to clear deckchairs from the island's much-maligned Blue Lagoon.

The Environment and Resources Authority, which is responsible for the Tal-Ful campsite, said that it had informed campers of new regulations, introduced in October 2021.

Those rules are fairly comprehensive, setting noise decibel limits, a light and power curfew and even stipulating how large the groundsheet under your tent can be.  

Here is what those new rules state. 

Setting up camp

1. Tents and camps must be made of fabric and anchored using rope and pegs, so nothing permanent or semi-permanent.

    

2. You cannot set up fences, external canopies or platforms at your campsite.

    

3. Each camp can only have one umbrella (max diameter: 2 metres).

    

4. You can only take up to 4 square metres of area outside your tent, covered with a picnic mat.

    

5. Collapsible chairs and tables are allowed, but any other furniture is not. So no sofas, mattresses or hammocks.
   Banned: chilling on a hammock. Photo: Jonathan Borg

6. You’re allowed a single groundsheet that goes beneath your tent and can extend up to 30cm out from any side.

    

7. You cannot dig up soil, add soil or alter the ground in any way when setting up camp.

    

8. You cannot dismantle or move rubble walls, fences or other structures.

    

9. Camps must be at least 2 metres away from each other and 2 metres away from trees or shrubs.

    

While camping

1. Each camper can stay for up to a maximum of 30 days. Equipment cannot be left at the campsite for any longer than that.

    

    
2. Noise must not exceed 60 decibels from 10m away.

    

3. No fires: that includes campires and bonfires. If you want to cook, you must use a gas-fired cooking stove.

    

4. You can bring up to 10 litres of fuel and 2kg of gas for cooking or lighting per camp. Anything combustible has to be stored in sealable leak-proof containers.

    

5. Cooking stoves must be at least 5 metres away from tree canopies or 10 metres away from tree trunks, whichever is larger distance.
   Comino's a gem but you can't stay there for longer than a month at a time.

Power and lights

6. Lights out at 11pm each day, until 7am each morning. Lights cannot be pointed at the sky or sea.

    

7. Each camp is allowed a generator, but it must be of the silent inverter type.

    

8. Generators cannot generate more than 2.2kW. They must not emit any more than 60dB from 10 metres away.

    

9. Generators must be switched off between midnight and 6am.

    

10. No fireworks are allowed.
    Watch the rubble walls - they're protected. Photo: Jonathan Borg

Getting there and packing up

11. All vehicles – motorised, electric, campervans etc – are prohibited.

     

12. No dumping of fuel or chemicals.

     

13. Leave only footprints – anything you bring with you, must be taken away when you leave

     

14. If you need a toilet, use the ones provided. No excrement outdoors.
    Leave only footprints. Anything you bring to the campsite, must be removed. Photo: Jonathan Borg

If you are caught breaking these rules, you could be fined anything from €500 to thousands of euro. 

You can read an original copy of the campsite rules here, with the relevant fines listed in article 49 of this piece of subsidiary legislation.