Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/947253
maltatoday WEDNESDAY 28 FEBRUARY 2018 NEWS JAMES DEBONO GHADIRA beach will become between 30 to 40 metres wider if plans submitted by Projects Malta – the entity responsi- ble for Private Public Partnerships – are approved. The substantial extension over an area of 38,200sqm of sand will be carried out through sand replenishment and the construction of wave deflection infra- structure. Plans submitted by architectural firm Environmental Management Design Planning (EMDP) also foresee the de- velopment of a new jetty near the Tunny net complex. Plans by Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi to "leave a legacy" in turning Mel- lieha Bay into a "top European beach" were announced in July last year. In August when addressing the issue of encroachments by beach concessions at Ghadira, Mizzi noted that in view of beach erosion "we need to assess wheth- er we can extend the beach to see if we can create more space." MaltaToday is informed that by extend- ing the beach the Government aims at striking what has so far been an elusive balance between private operators and public access by increasing the size of the beach. But the availability of more space may also trigger more pressures for the commercial exploitation of the beach. Rising sea levels as a result of global warming may also represent a chal- lenge, even if these are being addressed through studies conducted by foreign consultants. In the next days the PA is also set to ap- prove a new electricity substation near the Ghadira police station. The new 11KV substation is needed to cater for both present and future needs, provid- ing spare capacity for any future require- ments. An application for a beach con- cession on the rocky area opposite the Mellieha Holiday Centre is still pending. The latest application does not include any changes to the road network. In 2009 the then transport minister Austin Gatt proposed the replacement of the present coast road with one passing behind the Birdlife nature reserve but this was shot down by both the Labour opposition and environmentalists. The declared aim of this proposal was to stop beach erosion and restore sand dunes. But the use of studies commis- sioned by Seabank owner Silvio Debono to justify the move, led to suspicion that the aim of the project was to bring the beach closer to the newly-approved ho- tel. It was later scrapped. Projects Malta presents plans to enlarge Ghadira Beach The area marked in red indicates the suggested extension of beach at Mellieha Bay TIA RELJIC & KURT SANSONE MOVING the spring hunting season to April would be a re- gressive move that endangers the protected turtledove, BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana told MaltaToday. The hunting advisory board voted yesterday to recom- mend a spring hunting sea- son between 5 April and 25 April, in a move that has an- gered the bird conservation group. "This decision was designed to make it possible for hunt- ers to hunt turtledoves," Sul- tana said. "We're utterly gut- ted." Hunting during April would disrupt the migration of tur- tledoves, which are protected under law. Last year's season opened on 25 March and closed on 14 April. Hunters had called for the season to be shifted later into April, to coincide more with the migration of quail. A moratorium on the hunt- ing of turtledove will again be observed this year. Joe Perici Calascione, presi- dent of the hunters' federa- tion FKNK, told MaltaToday that the proposed season was not what hunters actu- ally wanted but insisted they would abide by it. "We call on all hunters to observe the law, and we will be helping in enforcement," Perici Calascione said, add- ing that the overlap with the migration of turtledove should not serve as an excuse to shift the season backward. "The illegality of the few should not hinder the enjoy- ment of many others." The Ornis Committee in- cludes two FKNK represent- atives, two representatives of Birdlife Malta, three govern- ment-appointed experts and one expert each in the areas of conservation of birds and hunting/trapping. The Ornis Committee rec- ommended a seasonal bag limit of 5,000 quail, with a daily individual bag limit of five birds and an individual seasonal bag limit of 10. Environment Minister Jose Herrera will have to now consider the recommenda- tion and issue a legal notice. In 2016, hunters had called for a moratorium on the spring hunting of the turtledove, a move that followed the clas- sification of the turtledove by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as a vulnerable species. The Government had ac- cepted to introduce the mora- torium although it had argued at the time that there was no scientific evidence point- ing to any detectable impact of Malta's extremely limited derogation on the population of this species. The numbers that were allowed to be hunt- ed (maximum of 5,000 birds) under strict supervision by means of a derogation were well below the Birds Direc- tive's threshold of 1% of annu- al mortality of the population and negligible on a European scale. IUCN lists the major threats for the decline of the turtledove as being transfor- mation of agricultural land, destruction of hedges, loss of semi-natural habitats, chang- es in agricultural practices, use of chemical herbicides, diseases, desertification and drought, as well as competi- tion with other species. BirdLife 'gutted' by Ornis recommendation to move spring hunting season to April The Ornis Committee recommended a seasonal bag limit of 5,000 quail