An institute of the University of Malta is awaiting an environmental permit to install an anti-jellyfish net on an experimental basis in a bay in Malta this summer.

Alan Deidun, coordinator of the International Ocean Institute-Malta Operational Centre (IOI-MOC) said the net had been made available through the five-nation Med Jellyrisk Project, which is currently holding a conference in Malta.

The aim, he said, was to install the net close inshore in order to test it before a decision was taken about whether more such nets should be installed.

The Malta Tourism Authority is backing the project but the environmental permit is needed before the net, which is already in Malta, can be installed.

Dr Deidun said the promoters had already made arrangements with a beach operator to care for the net - including sending divers to clean it every three weeks, and removing it whenever a storm is forecast.

The net, he said, was not expected to have a negative environmental impact. Nor would be be detrimental to fish, since they cannot get entangled in it.

Such nets will not close off the beaches but will enclose a section of swimming zones. They can only be installed in beaches whose seabed slopes gently. The top of the net floats while the bottom is weighed down to the seabed, which cannot be more than  three metres below.