Although summer is now over, sunbathers are still frequenting our beaches because of the continuing high temperatures. A notable improvement has been made by the Malta Maritime Authority to the swimming facilities of Ramla Bay in Gozo, by enclosing the swimmers' zone and installing safety lines to the shore. It was a good idea to have a wooden walkway towards the centre of the beach.

However, shoals of smelly seaweed are piled up along the shore. Apart from being an eyesore, this gives the impres-sion that the beach is never cleaned.

It is not that the seaweed is not being removed; it's being dug up in the late afternoon only to be thrown back into the sea. It takes only elementary logic to guess where it will end up after a few hours!

One has to strike a balance between the environmental concern for the beach and its tourism potential.

Ramla Bay is the only accessible sandy beach in Gozo and possibly the nicest beach on the Maltese islands. Modern day management has to take into account the needs of the public visiting the beach and not get away with the excuse that insects breed in the piles of seaweed washed ashore.

I do not know of any beach in the world where this rationale is applied.