ERA to increase surveillance on Comino

The Environment and Resources Authority is set to increase its surveillance on Comino by dedicating daily enforcement resources on the island.

MaltaToday was told that enforcement officers spent the past days on Comino training for this new role, which will see them educating visitors to comply with good environmental practices.  This will include focusing on littering, respecting campsite regulations and tackling overall environmental concerns.

ERA officers will mainly focus on warnings and educational action, but non-compliant persons may be fined in cases of damage to the environment.

ERA is working closely with all entities and stakeholders on Comino to assure the adequate protection that the area deserves. Government sources said “a balance had to be reached with the economic and social factors playing a key role in all the decisions, where other entities were also involved.”

Activists and members of Moviment Graffitti launched a clamorous direct action on Comino, protesting the private concessions blocking access to the public coastline.

The Graffitti activists proceeded to remove the laid-out deckchairs and folded them neatly against a retaining wall. “We are not damaging the deckchairs. It is unacceptable that all the deckchairs have been laid out without even the first tourist boat having arrived to the island,” spokesperson Andre Callus said during the action.

Deckchairs and umbrellas have hogged Comino’s Blue Lagoon throughout many a summer. A petition in 2021 asked MPs for “the removal of sun beds and deckchairs from Comino”, gathering over 600 signatures.

The deckchairs are placed on every inch of the shoreline – jetty, beaches and rocks – before the first tourist boats arrive, by private vendors who treat the Blue Lagoon as their own personal beach lido.

“Many Maltese say they never visit Comino because of this. This should not happen,” Graffitti spokesperson Andre Callus said. “The Blue Lagoon is a public area that should be free for everyone; residents and tourists alike, to enjoy without being coerced into paying for something they do not want.”

Callus said the act of civil disobedience was prompted after Tourism Minister Clayton Bartolo had kicked the can down the road when he promised to crack down on deckchair vendors but failed to specify how or when.

“Moviment Graffitti did not want the issue to be swept under the carpet for yet another summer and so we took direct action,” Callus said.

Comino is a designated Natura2000 site and hosts a myriad of protected species. This unique habitat is actively maintained and restored by ERA and Ambjent Malta, which have carried out the removal of derelict structures such as old electricity poles, to clearing of waste materials and designating further protection to areas that are more sensitive than others. One such example are the sand dunes at Santa Marija.

ERA is also coordinating other activities on the island, including the restoration of the Il-Qala wetland, through a UN-funded project, forestation and restoration projects, removal of invasive alien species, clean-ups and implementation of litter and camping regulations.