A bulldozer and a mechanical shovel were used to clean up seagrass debris at Marsalforn Bay in Gozo recently, with the planning authority’s blessing.

The cleaners, engaged by the Gozo Ministry, used heavy machinery after Mepa accepted the ministry’s method statement.

Such work was previously done by hand because of the sensitive nature of the place and because natural sand is becoming increasingly rare.

A Mepa spokesman said the works were acceptable as they were “justified maintenance operations” for this particular location. “The works method statement proposed by the Ministry for Gozo was considered acceptable from an environmental point of view,” he added.

The decision was heavily criticised by marine biologist Alan Deidun, who said it came as “no surprise” to him as it “simply depicts the standard way adopted in our islands”.

The use of such machinery results in the collection of “copious quantities of sand”, besides the debris, and it breaks up lumps so that grains of sand become more prone to being eroded by the wind, he said.

It also creates gulleys in the sand surface, which increases the chances of water-induced erosion if a freak storm occurs during summer, and crushes all forms of burrowing life. “The loss of sand from our coastline is insidious, considering that just over two per cent of the same coastline is sandy and that all our beaches have extremely restricted dimensions and sand volumes,” Dr Deidun said.

He added that the quantities of beached seagrass could easily be collected using manual shovels, for instance, “without resorting to such roughshod mechanical means”.

Last year the Gozo Ministry defended the use of such equipment at Ramla L-Ħamra Bay to remove an excessive amount of pebbles and also at San Blas Bay, which is presently engulfed in controversy over alleged illegal development there.