Marine adventure park

It is with great anticipation that we, dive centre operators, await the inauguration of the new and innovative marine adventure park. This enterprise, although not the only solution to the local diving industry's plight, will definitely enhance our diving product.

Entrepreneurs worth their salt can, with their vision and initiative, put Malta back on the map and businesses will work wonders towards improving our dwindling fish population, not to mention the leap in quality of the diving product.

It is no secret that Malta, although a popular diving destination, is lagging behind others in marine life diversity. The once populous Mediterranean Sea is now harbouring a fraction of the bio-diversity it once possessed.

When I first started diving over 30 years ago a most common sight would have been large shoals of White Sea Bream (sargi) in their hundreds and the shy groupers lurking in the shadows when not lying still on a rock sunning themselves.

These giants measured between one to two metres in length and weighed 30 to 50 kg. Alas, spotting such creatures is now a rarity and five to ten bream are considered a shoal nowadays.

Although many visitors come here to scuba dive and our underwater scenery is spectacular, we seriously lack the marine life that scuba divers pay good money to see.

The park would address this problem, that is our miserable fish population, and it would regale the avid photographer with magnificent subjects that one only dreams of encountering during our normal dives.

I am sure that all dive operators will welcome this new venture as it creates a much-needed new dive site of quality for their customers to enjoy. The marine adventure park will be a magnet for adventurous scuba divers and snorkellers and many will visit our islands just for this experience once the park is promoted.

Hats off to the park entrepreneurs as it is such projects that give impetus to the local economy, would the diving industry in Malta recover.

To seriously address the situation of the dwindling marine life and the decrease in visiting divers, we should not stop here. We should embark on an artificial reef programme as has successfully been done in other countries with limiting and controlling the fishing until the fish stock starts to show a healthy recovery.

For more information about the Marine Adventure Park visit www.marinefoundation.org.