The EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater (Proġett Garnija) project sign at Rdum tal-Madonna (L-Aħrax tal-Mellieħa) has been vandalised for the third time in four years, BirdLife reported today.

The project sign was destroyed within a week of the project launch in March 2007. Its replacement was shattered by gunshot last June. The latest vandalism took place six months after the current sign was put in place.

The NGO also complained that a huge trapping site built on public land without any permits within the Rdum tal-Madonna Special Area of Conservation was active again.

"This is the largest of two trapping sites within the Rdum tal-Madonna protected area which remain active, despite MEPA having scheduled all trapping sites in the protected area for removal over a year ago," BirdLife said.

It said that damage to the site was also being caused by off-roaders riding motorbikes on the garrigue, and vehicles driving between the trees. Measures to prevent vehicles from reaching the protected area were requested from the authorities since 2007 as part of the EU LIFE project. To date barely any action had been taken, however, BirdLife said.

Rdum tal-Madonna is a Natura 2000 area protected due to important habitats and Malta’s largest colony of Yelkouan Shearwater (Garnija), a globally near threatened seabird. Malta hosts an estimated 10% of the world’s population of Yelkouan Shearwater. Over the course of four years, the EU LIFE Yelkouan Shearwater project reversed the decline of these birds at the Rdum tal-Madonna colony through a number of conservation actions by Heritage Malta, the Armed Forces of Malta, the Capture Fisheries Division with the Ministry for Resources and Rural Affairs, Transport Malta, the RSPB (BirdLife UK), SPEA (BirdLife Portugal) and BirdLife Malta.