Tons of seaweed remain on two small picturesque Gozitan sandy beaches frequented by hundreds of bathers, particularly during the weekends.

Bathers who frequented San Blas and Daħlet Qorrot complained that the beaches were not cleaned up as usually happens before the summer season was in full swing, Times of Malta was told on Thursday.

“It is very strange that, despite the many people engaged by the government in Gozo, they did not find the time and the human resources to clear the stuff and make the beach clean for so many families who come here,” a Xagħra bather, who often visited San Blas, said.

A 38-year-old mother, accompanied by two young children, said she had been calling the Gozo Ministry offices about the “desperate situation” at Daħlet Qorrot for weeks on end but to no avail.

A Gozo Ministry spokesman said the seaweed had not been cleared yet because of a bureaucratic problem.

“The seaweed at San Blas bay will be removed once the necessary permits are issued by the respective authorities as it was the case with the other popular beaches around Gozo,” he said.

“Routine cleaning is carried daily out,” he remarked.

No comments were made about Daħlet Qorrot though.

Seaweed on the beach at San Blas.

Moreover, a question on how many government employees were deployed with the Gozo Ministry’s beach cleaning division remained unanswered.

A month after being appointed Gozo Minister, Justyne Caruana had announced the setting up of new intervention teams that would monitor beaches and tourism zones.

She had said the idea was for the teams, made up of government employees, to intervene rapidly to clean beaches as soon as complaints were received.