Environmental education has started bearing fruit but enforcement is still needed.

Thanks to the increased concern about protecting the natural environment, the perceivable sea pollution seems to have decreased at least in the area where we have sailed and snorkelled for about 10 years, that is from Marsaxlokk to Ħofra l-Kbira.

This year, in fact, we picked fewer bits of plastic and cans and, along the slipway, we seem to cross fewer floating greasy patches.

Rarely did we have to zigzag to avoid some floating garbage and only once did we see a bundle of picnic leftovers abandoned on the coast for the sea to dispose of.

Also, the bottom of the sea seems to be dotted by fewer cans and bottles than in the past.

All this is good news. But, unfortunately, another form of sea pollution is as bad as ever if not worse as there has been an increase in the number of black streaks that mark the white cliffs so characteristic of this area.

These streaks are evidence of the sewage discarded by the endlessly expanding dwellings built right at the edge of those cliffs. Their waste water finds its way to the sea through the layers of rock. This lack of respect for our natural environment needs to be stopped with enforcement of the existing laws. There is no time to wait for education to persuade everybody to respect the environment.