The first national aquarium, being built in Qawra, will open its doors at the beginning of next year.

Children will then be able to touch starfish and crabs in a monitored environment and walk through a tunnel in a 330-cubic-metre fish tank containing Mediterranean and tropical fish.

For many this is likely to be their first such experience.

Malta boasts a long maritime history but, to date, the island still lacks a national display of its natural undersea treasures.

The aquarium will house an array of fish circling the waters around us, diving facilities and interactive educational areas for children.

At the interactive touch pool, a diver will guide children on how to handle urchins, starfish and crabs as they are taught about the sea creatures’ nutritional habits.

Tourism Minister Mario de Marco, who yesterday visited the site, said the aquarium was an investment that would enrich Malta’s touristic package. The €15.6 million project is partly financed by the EU (€8 million) and private investment.

He noted that about 70,000 tourists visited the island specifically for a diving experience and nearly 60 per cent of all tourists travelled to the Qawra area.

Work on the project kicked off last November and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2013. Excavation on the 20,000-square-metre site finished in January and the 150-lot car park and diving facilities area are also completed.

Twenty-six tanks, work on which is expected to be finished by the end of summer, will host grouper, sea bream, sea bass, Mediterranean rays, octopus, yellow tangs, clown fish, chromis, angel fish and the black tip shark from the Indian Ocean, among others.

Maltese scenes, such as cliffs and reefs, will be replicated in the tanks and large submarine and shipwreck structures will be recreated.