WWF says Malta lagging behind 2020 deadline for coastline rules

International body says ‘paper parks’ is all Malta and 10 other member states have  despite having designated 35% of coastline as marine protected area

Malta has designated an impressive 35% of its coastline as Marine Protected Areas. Yet management plans restricting human activities in these sites are still not ready, and public consultation on the proposed measures are expected to start at the end of this year while implementation should be starting in 2020.

Indeed the World Wildlife Fund has denounced the lack of management plans for marine parks designated in 11 EU member states – including Malta – noting that in the absence of such plans these protected areas are nothing but “paper parks”.

Management plans for marine protected areas (MPA) regulate sensitive sectors like tuna penning, commercial and recreational fishing, and could impinge on land reclamation projects and coastal developments.

The Environment and Resources Authority is still concluding its identification of sites suitable for land reclamation. An area between Xghajra and Portomaso in St Julian’s was the only area identified for large-scale land reclamation, according to a leaked report, lying just outside a Marine Protected Area; Qalet Marku, which falls within a Marine Protected Area, has been identified for or breakwaters, marinas and touristic development.

The first MPA in Maltese waters was designated in 2008. Designations were made in 2016, following the results of the LIFE+ MIGRATE and the LIFE+ Malta Seabird project, and in 2018 with the completion of the LIFE BAĦAR for N2K project.

A spokesperson for ERA acknowledged that designation is only the first step in creating effective MPAs, which has to be followed by a management plan with a list of measures to be implemented.

“This is a complex process, which takes time and has to consider not only the protection and conservation of habitats and species within a MPA, but also economic and recreational activities, needs and potential spatial and resource-related conflicts; hence they are set following the consideration of socio-economic aspects, apart from the obvious environmental ones,” the ERA told MaltaToday.

Over the past three years, ERA has been consulting relevant stakeholders and entities to determine their interests, needs and concerns, to identify approaches for the management of MPAs.

In 2018, the first draft measures were presented and discussed through focus group meetings with several stakeholders and entities.
The final drafted objectives and measures will be issued for public consultation “in a few months’ time”, the ERA spokesperson said. The implementation of the proposed measures is expected to start in 2020.

Whilst the responsibility for the drafting of conservation objectives and measures falls under ERA’s responsibility the implementation of the management plans “will require the cooperation and support of several other entities and stakeholders,” the ERA spokesperson said.

WWF denounces paper parks

The WWF has denounced that Europe’s marine wildlife sanctuaries are no more than “paper parks” that are failing to protect the seas.

Under EU law, coastal states are obliged to create marine protected areas to protect specific species or habitats. The report found that marine protected areas with enforceable management plans only cover 1.8% of Europe’s seas, with management plans. “This effectively makes them paper parks,” WWF said in a statement on its report that assessed progress in the EU’s 23 coastal states.

The requirement to create marine protected areas is part of the EU’s efforts to meet international targets to ensure that 10% of the world’s oceans are protected by 2020 – a goal campaigners believe is too weak to ensure thriving seas and oceans in the long-term.

Janica Borg, lead author of the study, said it was impossible for Europe to meet the 2020 target. “Without urgent action to implement effective plans for nature conservation or restoration, with proper restrictions against extractive activities, nearly all EU MPAs will fail to support our ocean’s resilience in the climate emergency,” she said.

The study found that 19 of 23 member states were falling behind on developing management plans while 11 had not announced any plan at all.

This has left wildlife in the Baltic, North Sea and Mediterranean vulnerable to overfishing, bottom trawling and drilling for oil or gas.

The European commission, which is responsible for upholding EU law has urged member states to create larger reserves in deeper waters, noting that most marine protected areas are too small, as more than half of the sites are less than 30sq.km.

Marine protected areas restrict economic activities, but also contain smaller marine reserves, where all fishing and energy extraction is banned.

WWF argues that short-term economic interests have been prioritised for too long. “Traditionally, marine protection has been seen as a sideline activity,” Borg said. “It is easy at first to put your fisheries in place, to put your shipping in place and only then to start looking at the area we have for conserving nature. But that is actually the wrong way round.”