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Declare Cirkewwa a Marine Sanctuary – facts and efforts

By Antonio Anastasi*

In 2004 we as environmentalist, I am including all divers here, were hit by a great stroke of luck.

By pure chance we find, through a question in parliament from the shadow minister for the environment, to the minister responsible for the environment that;

a)spear fishing with aqualungs is illegal
b)that all wrecks have now become protected sites with a no catch no stop policy.

Fortunately the shadow minister on his own steam or on the behest of one of his constituents asked the question in parliament.

I wonder if the law would have been made public had the question NOT been asked in Parliament.

Since then all stem ahead with ridiculous lend-me-your-glasses-to-read signs were put on various dive sites in time to be not only vandalized but also to be ignored.

So we still had and have paritii placed not only around these protected wrecks, but also close to the shore which, as we divers know, apart from being illegal are also a source of danger to us,  often not visible till you may be well into them or you are entangled.

That enforcement was going to be an issue was a given, so in the least,  we had to be prepared to have to stand around, frustrated, wasting time getting the police on the line who often, can only get there after the fact.

This is not their fault, for they do come, sometimes while the perpetrators are still around.
They take particulars, but we do not know if these are eventually prosecuted.

Cirkewwa is a typical example of this, to me  and many others, it is by far one of the nicest most diverse sites that we have on out island.

I have set up a FaceBook group called DECLARE CIRKEWWA A MARINE SANCTURY NOW.

Why Cirkewwa?

As mentioned above Cirkewwa, above all shore dives in Malta is by far the most diverse, not only because of its rich biodiversity but also because the marine environment there is representative of all the Marine environments typical of the Mediterranean;
Boulders
Walls
Caverns and overhangs (dark places)
Sandy bottom
Pasedonea  Meadows.

Each environments has its own speciality vertebrates and invertebrates, with some that cross from one or the other or live on the border between each.

It is the common argument that the best way of going about protecting anything is by ‘education.’

This argument is faulted.

Education can only work if there is the weight of legislative arm of enforcement backing it.

In other words, by all means do educate the general public about the need to protect, and what the laws state; do educate the public on the corresponding fines; however we need to move away from the octopus are smart-pretty-cute-intelligent, (this personification of marine creatures,) and clearly state  that you take anything you will get arrested, prosecuted and if found guilty fined.

Your boat in transit is shown to have cylinders and spear guns on board, you will be prosecuted.
If you bring anything out of the water you will be prosecuted.
If you are trawl over the sanctuary you will be prosecuted.

The group is also proposing that fines should reflect the cost to the government and its judicial arms.

This means no more E200 fines, but the fine should reflect the time and expense in prosecuting the perpetrators.

A time and motion study of the Judicial of what it costs in terms of hours and manpower, the proportional expense of everybody included in the prosecution; police answering the call, the arresting officers, petrol used to get to and from the site, the cost of a helicopter or patrol boat including the crews,if these are used, processing, if required the cost of keeping a person in jail, the cost of the Magistrate and his staff, the cost of the prosecution team…

ALL of this need to be reflected in the minimum fine, over and above this the confiscation of the boat or the car used in infringing the law should also be considered.

The only way that enforcement WILL  work is by actually having a dedicated  ADMINISTRATIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT, (ALE), police officers on site.

Having a police presence directly on site on a 24/7 basis means that they can stop the damage BEFORE it actually happens, and not AFTER the fact when all the damage is done.

This has been the experience of many other countries who for many years, have had marine sanctuaries.

It is this experience ,from Italy to South Africa, to the USA  to New Zealand to Australia.
THESE should be our role models and not our usual  Maltese half-ass way of doing things, which usually means compromises to protect financial interest at the expense of the National Natural Heritage.

Through our group DECLARE CIRKEWWA A MARINE SANCTUARY NOW, we call on the government to, without farther delay:

1) Declare Cirkewwa a protected Area, prohibiting ALL types of fishing from boats and that Angling be allowed only to the South of the Dive site.
2)That the enforcement be constant and vigilant by actually having ALE personnel on site 24/7
3)That clear signs be put up at and to the approaches to Cirkewwa declaring, CLEARLY and UNEQUIVOCALLY  the site a protected area, as well as the fines involved with infringement.
4) That the fine for breaking the law be reviewed to act as a deterrent, to and not excluding confiscation of car or boat used in the illegal activity.

*Antonio Anastasi is a diving instructor and marine enthusiast who is behind the initiative to Declare Cirkewwa a Marine Sanctuary. Join the efforts to protect this beautiful place!

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