Environment's real aliens

Last Tuesday's edition of Dissett highlighted the current upsurge in the number of imports of exotic animals, especially reptiles, especially in light of the recent furore over the Bengal tiger cub found in Mosta.

Yet, it skirted the issue of non-indigenous (alien) species, merely mentioning the Bedriaga's frog at Ta' Sarraflu in Gozo. In so doing, the programme missed the wood for the trees since alien species, which are inadvertently introduced to our islands, are causing real havoc in the local biodiversity scene.

The problem with alien species, especially the Invasive Alien Species (IAS), is so acute that the International Maritime Organisation has listed their introduction as one of the four greatest threats to the world's oceans. The concern is even more real with non-indigenous aquatic species (NAS), due to the interconnectivity of different seas which facilitates the spread of marine species.

Ever since the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the eastern Mediterranean has been progressively colonised by Indo-Pacific and Red Sea migrants, aptly dubbed "Lessepsian migrants", after Ferdinand de Lesseps, the French diplomat and engineer instrumental in developing the canal. The pace of introduction of such species has increased over recent decades with the warming up of the Mediterranean Sea, with the Indo-Pacific species typical of warmer waters finding our sea somewhat more congenial.

Some marine alien species native to Atlantic waters make it to the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar. Alien species introduction is mediated in several ways, including hitching a ride in the ballast water of vessels, attaching to these same vessels or as a result of aquaculture operations.

The EU is taking the threat posed to biodiversity by non-indigenous species very seriously. In 2007, the Delivering Alien Invasive Species Inventories for Europe (Dasie) project was launched and has documented the presence in Europe of more than 11,000 alien species, 15 per cent of which are considered to wreak economic havoc and another 15 per cent impinge negatively on native biodiversity.

So far, Malta's participation in monitoring the spread of alien species has consisted mostly of research efforts in this field conducted by poorly-funded University research teams, which in turn support the knowledge base local authorities such as the Malta Environment and Planning Authority. A national coordinated programme aimed at assessing the current status of alien species in our waters and the threats they pose should be embarked upon.

Further ODZ onslaught

This column has repeatedly featured an application which proposed the construction of further boathouses along Ix-Xatt ta' Marija, at the mouth of Għajn Żejtuna in Mellieħa. Objectors to the application have managed to score a victory of sorts by imposing the re-affixation of the site notice and the re-opening of the 15-day representation period (which ended last Sunday) for objections to be submitted.

Numerous reasons exist for refusing the application, most of which have been well encapsulated by the detailed submissions made by the Ramblers Association and by the Santa Marija Residents' Association, some of which I am adapting below:

Firstly, the site lies in an area of land that is safeguarded under the North-West Local Plan (Map 27), outside the development zone.

Secondly, according to the NWLP, Section 2, dated August 11, 2006, "encroachments on to the coast for the private use or further construction for the use of boathouses and/or beachrooms, as defined in this plan, will not be allowed". In the past, the same developer has been allowed to encroach to within a few metres of the shoreline.

The area is a Level 2 Area of Ecological Importance and falls under Rural Conservation Orders 9 and 10 of the Structure Plan for Malta.

Finally, the application seeks to increase the total number of boathouses from the current 18 to 46, an increase of 28 or a density increase of 150 per cent, by building on two levels, by using the illegally acquired area referred to as a "car park" in front of the existing boathouses. This entire 'car park' area is the result of encroachment into a public Protected Coastal Area, to which the public has been denied access for the past decades.

With the Prime Minister's declared presumption against Outside Development Zone development, with the Mellieħa local council's attempts to make Mellieħa a destination in itself and in view of the imminent Mepa reform, the rejection of the application is the only judicious way forward.

Mapping noise in the EU

One of our most frequent complaints is the proliferation of excessive noise on the islands, with fireworks, discos, and traffic being listed as the major culprits.

The European Environment Agency (EEA) has launched the most comprehensive map of noise exposure to date, revealing the extent to which European citizens are exposed to excessive noise pollution. This provides, at the click of a mouse, a picture of the numbers of people exposed to noise generated by air, rail and road traffic across Europe in 102 large urban agglomerations.

It is estimated that half of the population in urban areas with more than 250,000 inhabitants endure levels above the lower EU benchmark for an average 24-hour period as a result of ambient road noise. Just over 41 million Europeans (or 16 per cent of the population of the countries involved) are exposed to excessive noise from road traffic alone in the largest cities.

The database provides information on noise exposure levels from roads and railway tracks - while Malta has no data to submit for the latter genre, one would have expected some form of noise exposure monitoring to have been submitted in relation to our roads.

Just 19 of the 32 EEA member countries contributed to the noise database, with Malta being one of those which failed to submit data in time. Malta is represented in the database as 'greater Valletta area', with 274,500 inhabitants, which probably represents the Inner and Outer Harbour areas, with no noise data being available next to our entry.

Following the adoption of the Environmental Noise Directive, member states were given until December 2007 to deliver relevant data. Users of the noise database can view the extent of data reported in accordance with the directive on a colour-coded map.

alan.deidun@gmail.com