Comino, once an ecological pristine island, has been turned into a dumpsite, especially in the areas most popular with summer tourists, such as Blue Lagoon and the islet of Cominotto.

What is depicted in tourist brochures is simply a sham. The street leading from the Blue Lagoon to the public rest room looks like the Valletta market in peak times. Litter, mostly plastic, metal, glass bottles, polystyrene containers, plastic cups, pieces of food and plastic bags are spread all over the indigenous shrubs.

Camping on the island has got out of hand. Where is the enforcement? Why is there no control over the number of campers and where they are allowed to camp? On a visit last month the camping site in Comino extended from the beach up to the chapel and almost all along the way to the farmhouse. It looked like a military boot camp village.

Furthermore, for some reason, everybody brings an alien tree or two and plants them where they deem fit. In the past three years we have noticed 30 new banana trees. I think Comino is becoming a banana republic.

If it’s not a banana republic, it should be called ‘Rattatopia’ because brown rats are left unchecked and continue to eradicate the rest of the remaining biodiversity. As professional pest controllers we offered the best methodologies for the island several times but it all fell on deaf ears and nothing is being done. The few individuals who dare place rodent baits are unknowledgeable and end up destroying other wildlife by using a cheap rodenticide that is not host specific.

We have also noticed a lack of biodiversity on the island. Climate change? It could be, but the overabundance of rats and rabbits is surely not aiding the flora situation, neither does the introduction of alien biodiversity such as eucalyptus trees and partridges. Even the lizards, which were traditionally plentiful in Comino, seem to be in decline.