Plants native to local wetland areas will be planted at Comino’s Il-Qala ta’ Santa Marija instead of invasive species such as the prickly pear or wattle, as part of a habitat restoration project for the island that begins on Monday. 

Workers from the Environment and Resources Authority and Ambjent Malta will recreate two brackish water ponds in the area, to re-establish a native marshland environment, transplant six olive trees that “do not form part of the site’s native habitat composition”, remove makeshift stone barbecues and other structures and restore rubble walls in the area. 

The works are a continuation of projects on Comino that began in 2017, as part of the Natura 2000 site’s management plan. In a statement announcing the works, ERA said that it intended to showcase its work on Comino so far, as well as future plans for the island, in May. 

Those works include ongoing efforts to plant over 3,000 indigenous trees and shrubs in three abandoned fields, installing wooden fences to protect a form of garrigue found in the Blue Lagoon area known as phrygana and improving fencing and security at the Tal-Fulu camping site. 

Other plans in the works are to remove disused electrical poles, close off some pathways that are leading to “fragmentation of garrigue and grassland habitats” on Comino, and plans to undertake underwater and coastal clean ups with the collaboration of clean-up NGO Żibel between May 3 and 8. 

The environmental regulator said that it would be updating the public about works on Comino before the summer season opened and would also be inviting the press to visit the island and see works undertaken. 

ERA has come in for considerable flak from NGOs for its handling of the Natura 2000 site in recent months, after it failed to stamp out works undertaken by Gozo Ministry workers without a planning permit. 

The regulator temporarily ordered a halt to those works after photos emerged of concrete-lined trenches created as part of the works to ostensibly repair an unsafe dirt road.

It subsequently allowed the works to resume, saying works would be done with “mitigation measures to curb environmental damage” without impinging on the area’s natural integrity.” 

A restoration plan set with the contravener would “reinstate the impacted area to its former natural state,” ERA had said.