The Gaia Foundation has expressed concern “about the forces at work that are threatening our treasured coastal landscape”.

In a statement, the organisation, specifically set up to protect the islands’ coastal heritage through integrated coastal management, said it was shocked by the extent of the damage to the Dwejra site.

It also expressed bewilderment at the fact that insufficient inspections and that the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had risked the integrity of the site by allowing the laying of sand extraneous to the site in the protected area.

In its experience in the management of Ramla Bay in Gozo and Ghajn Tuffieha Bay, which has been the venue of many a film shoot in the last few years, Gaia said that its rangers had always been present to monitor filming activities from the preparation stage right up to the end of filming.

It said it was usually requested by MEPA to do so at its managed sites whenever there was a request and subsequent permit for construction of a set and filming. Yet such measures were very limited in the Dwejra film shoot.

It beggars belief that environment NGO’s were taken to task by Mepa for the slightest thing on the coastal heritage sites they were managing and protecting with the limited resources they might have available.