New foundation seeks to boost diving industry

The recurring drop in the number of divers coming to Malta during the past several years has been posing problems not only to the operators in this sector but to the tourism industry as a whole, Martin Vella said yesterday.

In a bid to halt and reverse this trend, a group of professional dive centres and amateur dive clubs have joined forces to set up the Malta Marine Foundation, said Mr Vella, the foundation's president.

The launch which was scheduled for tomorrow during a clean-up of the seabed at Wied Iz-Zurrieq has been postponed and will, instead, be held at 10 a.m. next Saturday.

The main objective of the foundation is to improve the product by upgrading sites and raising funds to be able to sink more ships to serve as artificial reefs to attract marine life.

But these sites should be turned into marine parks where fishing is prohibited, otherwise the aim of attracting marine life for divers to enjoy would be lost if the fish are taken by fishermen.

The foundation incorporates about 40 dive centres which represent about 90 per cent of the dive centres here.

Malta has to compete with other dive centres of world repute such as the Red Sea, a destination which is cheaper than Malta to travel to for most visitors from mainland Europe, Mr Vella noted. This was not to mention the Caribbean, which like the Red Sea supports an abundant fish life.

In contrast, the marine life in Maltese waters has dwindled sharply because of a variety of factors.

What has caused such decline?

"There are various reasons for such a decline including untreated sewage outflow in Anchor Bay, Zonqor Point and Ras il-Hobz in Gozo. Another factor is the presence of fish farms in bays. They should be moved further out at sea.

"Such farms ought to be at least 10 miles out and at that distance they could serve as a diving attraction as is the practice in Favinigna, an island west of Sicily," Mr Vella added.

Mr Vella said that the active sport divers community world- wide reaches 18 million. Of these between five and six million are in Europe.

"Such divers are big spenders and eco friendly people who enjoy observing and admiring marine life. Malta is only getting a drop of this trade: about 40,000 which is far too little.

"Around the world about two million persons qualify as divers annually. Malta's share is 4,000. But how many of these 4,000 divers are return visitors?"

The foundation will be raising funds from proceeds netted from a card costing Lm2 aimed at divers, their friends and families. Card holders will be entitled to discounts at a number of restaurants among other benefits.

The funds thus raised will be used to buy more vessels to sink as wrecks and upgrade the dive sites.

The foundation is not a purely environmental organisation but is more focused on eco tourism.

The importance of having more wrecks is underlined by Mr Vella who pointed out that in Florida in the US, wrecks are sunk systematically.

One of the main attractions in Florida is the USS Spiegel Grove, which is the largest vessel ever intentionally sunk as an artificial reef. The vessel is 510 feet long and 84 feet wide.

The foundation has carried out a study about where best to sink unserviceable vessels to serve as artificial reefs.

The foundation has applied to the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to sink the Hannibal, a trawler. The Balena, a dredger is being earmarked for the Exiles in Sliema and two patrol boats, the P29 and the P31 have raised a lot of interest from dive centres in Gozo. These vessels have yet to be bought by the foundation.

"Although the cost of such vessels is their scrap value, by having them sunk as wrecks, their value will rise a hundred fold because of the beneficial ripple effect on the tourism industry," Mr Vella said.

The foundation will also be introducing the Mooring Buoy Planning Guide.

"This guide shows how diving by groups can be organised by having buoys for each dive boat doing away with the need to drop anchors.

"Without such a system what happens is that every time an anchor is dropped and then hauled when the dive is over, damage is caused to the sea bed particularly in Posedonia fields that serve as breeding and nursing grounds for marine life.

"Additionally, pulling anchors causes accidents as at times happens when divers are hit by them. Having such buoys would also eliminate the risk of divers hurting themselves when they dive in from the shore and more so when they attempt to climb back after the dive especially if there is a swell," Mr Vella said.