Eight special marine conservation areas were declared yesterday in an attempt to save three protected, declining Maltese seabird species.
The protected birds are the yelkouan shearwater, Scopoli’s shearwater and European storm petrel.
Located within a perimeter of about 20 nautical miles from the Maltese coast, the areas were identified following a five-year, EU-funded project carried out by Birdlife Malta. Its findings, part of a programme called LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project, were released yesterday at a conference at the Paradise Bay Hotel, Ċirkewwa, in the presence of Environment Minister Jose Herrera.
From September 2011 to this month, Birdlife’s researchers identified the most important sites at sea frequented by seabirds, known as marine important bird areas (IBAs) and proposed to the government that they would be legally protected and managed as special conservation areas.
The next step will be the creation and implementation by the Maltese authorities of management plans for the marine protected areas.
They will eventually be monitored to ensure seabirds and other marine life are safe and that the areas have a good environmental status by 2020, meaning that they are biodiverse, clean and used sustainably.
Dr Herrera said Birdlife’s recommendation to designate the eight maritime zones as special conservation areas was taken on board by Cabinet last April. He noted that this decision fulfilled the implementation of the Birds Directive, which established a network of special conservation areas across Europe to protect the natural habitats of endangered and migratory species.
In a video message, the European Commissioner for Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Karmenu Vella, welcomed the decision, describing the project as a cause for celebration and a perfect example of the value of collaboration. “We can learn a lot from this project, as it shows the result of combining EU funding with passionate commitment by people who care,” he said.
Project manager Nicholas Barbara said the project was of global importance because the Maltese islands were home to 10 per cent of yelkouan shearwaters, three per cent of Scopoli’s shearwaters and half the population of the Mediterranean subspecies of European storm petrels.
The total investment into the LIFE+ Malta Seabird Project reached €870,000, half of which was co-funded by the EU’s LIFE unit. The Ministry for Sustainable Development, Environment and Climate Change also contributed financially to the project.