Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1414163
7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 SEPTEMBER 2021 NEWS WWW.AGRIKOLTURA.GOV.MT EMFF 6.2.3 - DATA COLLECTION MULTI-ANNUAL PROGRAMME 2020-2021 Maritime and Fisheries Operational Programme 2014-2020 Part-financed by the European Union European Maritime and Fisheries Fund Co-financing rate: 80% EU Funds; 20% National funds Investing in sustainable fisheries and aquaculture The EU's Data Collection Multi-Annual Programme (DC-MAP) sets out the basic principles and the general rules on the collection, management and use of fisheries and aquaculture data needed for scientific advice, in line with the Common Fisheries Policy. The DC-MAP includes biological, environmental, economic, and social data. The framework needs to ensure accuracy, reliability and timeliness, safe storage and improved availability of data. Age reading from an otolith (ear bone) extracted from the head of the fish of (left) common dolphinfish (lampuki), ca. two months old [scale bar: 500 μm] and (right) European hake, ca. two years old [scale bar: 5 mm]. European Maritime and Fisheries Fund JAMES DEBONO A nine-story hotel is being pro- posed over an existing terrace at St Paul's Bay that will inevitably command views of St Paul's Is- lands. The development is being proposed in the vicinity of a sea cave known as l-Għar tal-Veċċ- ja, a natural geomorphological feature which is protected as an Area of Ecological Importance and an Area of High Landscape Value. The hotel would be built over ten levels, including a basement and receded floor, instead of the terrace accessed from Triq Stella Maris. The Environment and Re- sources Authority has already expressed concern on the proposed excavation works in close proximity of the coastal cliffs and cave. The Superintendence for Cul- tural Heritage also called for documentation with regards to "unconfirmed" reports that the cave's geomorphological fea- tures may extend beneath the site of the proposed hotel. The watchdog expressed concern at the "excessively high develop- ment" being proposed, which will result in an "unsightly blank party wall facing the ur- ban conservation area". Noting the site's unobstruct- ed proximity to the sea, it warned that "such high and in- tensive development is bound to be visually conspicuous from the seaward side and command views of St. Paul's Bay". The SCH also referred to the presence of protected Second World War public air-raid shelters located within the site footprint of the proposed de- velopment. Residents, which include owners of summer residences in the area, are claiming they have enjoyed rights of access from the "terrace" for the last 40 years and this had been in- cluded in their purchasing con- tracts. The development, proposed by Josef Muscat, foresees the construction of a 22-room, eight-storey 3-star hotel with an overlying receded floor and basement, with related ameni- ties consisting of a restaurant, gym and rooftop swimming pool. The development is being rec- ommended by the Malta Tour- ism Authority, which considers the development as an upgrade in the tourism product. The Authority's Special Projects Committee has also deemed the proposed hotel eligible for additional floors according to the Height Limitation Adjust- ment Policy for Hotels. Nine-storey hotel proposed near Veccja cave The ERA is concerned by excavations in vicinity of the protected coastline and sea cave