Unfulfilled promises to divers

Three years ago promises were made to improve access to dive sites. At Gozo, the most popular diving area of the Maltese islands, two short hand-rails at Dwejra and one ladder at Reqqa point are the sum total of those promises.

A very large number of dive centres on both Malta and Gozo are operating illegally as they are unlicensed.

A year or two in the future and the Maltese government will wonder why its diving and tourist industry has declined so rapidly.

As a regular visiting diver to Gozo, I have witnessed all these self-inflicted injuries.

Mr Shaun Arrigo's "The Planet Sea 'Save Our Seas'" petition (August 31) is to be applauded but I hope it will not be another shot in the foot. If a popular diving site is chosen as a conservation area with its consequential ban on any form of fishing, diving and boating, then Mr Arrigo's proposals could become self-defeating. Divers will not be prepared to pay to exclude themselves from the best dive sites. Lundy Island, off the north Cornwall coast in England, has been a marine conservation area for many years. Diving is not banned but divers cannot take anything from the waters in the area.

My words of caution are prompted by rumours of Dwejra at Gozo being designated as a conservation area. If diving is banned in certain zones at Dwejra, which is without doubt the premier diving site of the Maltese islands, then the Maltese diving industry will rapidly decline.

Much needs to be done at Dwejra to make it more, not less, diver friendly. We need reasonable access roads, a clear area where we can park vehicles and a clean area where we can put on our diving suits. Not a dirty, stony, tiny parking area in which we have to compete with 100 cars, 25 coaches, four hawker vans, two ice-cream vans and one snack bar as is the case at Dwejra today.

Recently I dived on the remains of the Gozo ferry Xlendi at Xatt l-Ahmar. The (fully licensed) dive centre's four-wheel drive vehicles had great difficulty getting to and parking near the entry point. We then had to try and find a clean rock on which to get changed, the area was covered in dirt and broken glass and, because of the weather, about 10 dive centre vehicles, jeeps and cars were competing for the same small place.

Like my fellow diving companions, my kit was covered in mud and the dive on the upturned hull with few fish around could not be described as awe-inspiring. We all began to wonder whether it was really worth it. All this at a site which was created especially for diving.

Malta may choose to shoot itself in the foot but beware, divers will vote with theirs.