Qawra tuna pens application turned down

An application for the siting of five tuna pens off Qawra Point was yesterday turned down by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority.

During a public hearing held at the MEPA offices in Floriana, the MEPA board heard its directorate officials explain that the site chosen for the tuna pens by Mare Blu Company Ltd fell exactly in the area earmarked by the MEPA to monitor the operation of the nearby tuna pens belonging to Azzopardi Fisheries.

If MEPA were to accept the application, the directorate argued, all the data on the monitoring of the quality of the sea would be invalidated.

Moreover, tuna pens had to be sited away from dive sites and other recreational areas.

Objectors to the project included the Malta Tourism Authority, Nature Trust, the action committee of the proposed Imperial Eagle underwater marine park and the Association of Professional Diving Schools.

Architect Anton Zammit for the developers said his clients were being short changed because they had applied for a permit at the same time that Azzopardi Fisheries had filed their application - and were not then aware of the eventual monitoring area.

He said that the MEPA had asked the developers to come up with two alternative sites and they had also been informed that the government planned to earmark a site close to Marsaxlokk harbour for all the tuna pens.

During the same hearing, the MEPA board approved the installation of temporary of pontoons at Manoel Island, for a period of two to three years.

It also approved the installation of a 2.4 metre satellite dish at Whitehall Mansions in Ta' Xbiex.

The board, however, deferred to another hearing, an application to demolish existing premises at Triq ir-Rinella corner with Triq il-Missjoni in Rinella and the building of garages, maisonettes and flats.