Plan to relocate fish farms into one area

The Malta Planning and Environment Authority is to issue a call for tenders for a baseline survey of the seabed four kilometres off Marsaxlokk with a view to allocating the area for fish farming.

Planning director Godwin Cassar said the survey was in line with the government's plan to identify a site for the possible relocation of existing fish farms into one area.

Dr Cassar said the proprietors of the pens would eventually be obliged to pay for the lease of space allocated to them.

The subject was brought up yesterday by the MEPA board during a marathon morning sitting during which it reversed its decision to turn down an application by Kenneth Cole for a tuna penning farm off Benghajsa Reef, Birzebbuga.

The proposed tuna farm had met with objections from fishermen's cooperatives and environmental organisations, among others.

After hearing the Planning Directorate recommend the upholding of a request to reconsider the original decision, six board members voted in favour and five against.

In its recommendations to the board, the Planning Directorate said that an environmental impact study on the development concluded that the visual impact was expected to be minimal considering the design of the cages and their siting next to a major port.

The directorate said that permits for tuna farms are subject to numerous conditions which make it possible to stop farm operations if their impact is considered unacceptable.

The directorate added that it did not consider the development to be harmful to the Cory Shearwater breeding population.

Insofar as tourism was concerned, the directorate said that the carrying out of an environmental impact assessment and the subsequent drawing up of a number of conditions guiding the operation of fish farms was sufficient in preventing major negative impacts on the tourism industry.

The directorate also recommended that an additional condition is added whereby MEPA reserves the right to request the relocation of the farm into the area identified for fish farming.

Adriana Vella of Biological Conservation Research Foundation (BICREF), who contacted The Times following the meeting, said she was very disappointed at the MEPA board's decision especially after the board had previously decided against the development with a vote of seven to four.

The decision was disappointing because one of the most scenic areas was suddenly being used for this type of development. Even worse was the allocation of areas in the sea for fish farms, she said.

MEPA yesterday continued discussing an application to transform the old Orpheum Theatre in Gzira into a multi-purpose complex.

The authority is now considering a proposal to regrade the building from its present Grade 1 to Grade 2.

MEPA had scheduled the theatre as Grade 1 which effectively means that the building had to be preserved in its entirety and that no demolition or alterations which impair the setting or change the external appearance are to be carried out. Grade 2 would allow works inside the building but the façade would have to stay as it was.

The permit requested by Alex Abela on behalf of Orpheum Co. Ltd on October 10, 1998, is for a change of use of the theatre to a multi-purpose complex to include a number of retail units, a cafeteria, a hall and eight apartments.

The theatre, which is owned by the Gzira MLP committee, does not have historical importance but had been given the top grading by the PA in view of its architectural value.

The MEPA board also discussed 'reserved matters' including the construction management plan, after it had granted the permit for an extension to the Fortina Hotel in Sliema to Julian Zammit Tabona. Agreement was reached on the points at issue but the Fortina Hotel management must submit amended plans for access to the development site.