Plans to construct a yacht marina in the Marsascala bay would “complicate” efforts by conservationists to preserve il-Magħluq, a coastal lagoon designated as a special area of conservation in the village, one of its caretakers has told Times of Malta.

Il-Magħluq tal-Baħar in Marsascala, an area of protected saline marshland, has been subject to several interventions by Nature Trust in an effort to rehabilitate the habitat as well as conservation efforts to maintain a colony of Mediterranean killifish (bużaqq), which are also protected on site.

“At this stage, I think we should leave with the approach that any proposal has the potential to cause damage and work our way from there,” Magħluq site manager James Gabaretta  told Times of Malta.

“As things stand, there is a lot of work to be done before we can get to a point where we can say this is where we would like to be. We have been collaborating with several entities and doing our utmost to improve the site. When you add a yacht marina into the equation, it can complicate things quite a lot.”

“While it’s difficult to say at this point, as there are no concrete proposals at this stage, we should be cautious and quantify the potential for damage.”

What are the yacht marina plans?

Last week, Transport Malta issued a call for tenders welcoming proposals to construct a yacht marina in the Marsascala bay. The pre-qualification document included a site map that proposed sweeping away popular swimming zones and replacing them with pontoons. Some 16,000 square metres of land reclamation are included in the drawing, as well as a requirement for dredging of up to four metres in certain areas of the bay.

The document also states bidders must provide for a minimum of 700 berths in the marina, significantly increasing the amount of vessels present in the bay, where, at the moment, over 500 boats are moored.

Il-Magħluq is intrinsically linked to the bay, with a subterranean link to the coastline

The transport regulator maintains that these plans were merely an artistic impression and no concrete plans have yet been formulated for the bay.

The Marsascala local council has voted to oppose any marina project proposed in the bay and has called for Transport Malta to withdraw the call for proposals.

Residents who spoke out about the project fear the marina will be a “death knell” for their enjoyment of the bay.

An intrinsic link between two habitats

Il-Magħluq is intrinsically linked to the bay, with a subterranean link to the coastline being integral to allowing saltwater to circulate from the pools and keep its biodiversity alive.

Sadly, Gabaretta explained, this link has historically not been properly maintained, leading to the need of more human intervention to prevent eutrophication, a process in which excess plant nutrients take over the body of water and that lessen the availability of viable oxygen, causing ramifications for other flora and fauna in the ecosystem.

“Over the last decade, these have not been well maintained and the connection is very weak,” he said.

“We have long-proposed making a new connection that is easy to maintain and does not disrupt the flow of traffic but we have faced weak responses and a lack of willingness to do something about it.”

Presently, the situation at il-Magħluq requires intervention to keep the ecosystem healthy and prevent eutrophication, which volunteers are presently trying to control through the installation of aerators and experimenting with different kinds of plants that feed on the excess nutrients in the water as well as frequent cleaning and upkeep of the site.

“I think that people are slightly sceptical of master plans because of past experiences but I think there is a lack of overall vision for the locality and that we should have a road map of where we want to take biodiversity, transport, recreation, you name it. At the moment, there is no coherent vision,” Gabaretta said.

“The more complexities we add to the area, the more we will need to intervene.

“We are helping the killifish a lot and working to understand what we can do that is most beneficial for it. It’s like a doctor working with a patient you really wish didn’t need your help.

“Ultimately, our vision is to bring the area to a point where it only needs maintenance and not continuous help but, so far,  it needs our support.”