Nature Trust (Malta said in a statement today that “following reports of dredging works taking place in Wied tal-Grazzja in the area of Marsalforn, it has raised some questions, urging the Malta Environment and Planning Authority (MEPA) to look into the matter and take immediate action.”

Nature Trust (Malta) executive president Vincent Attard said that “heavy machinery was used to dig the valley bed, meaning that the dredging could be causing irreversible damage to the valley’s ecosystem.”

Mr Attard asked, “Has MEPA issued a permit for these dredging works to be carried out? And if so, are the works in line with what is stipulated in the permit? Has MEPA carried out the necessary checks to see if any protected species have been affected by the dredging, and who is on site monitoring the works?”

NTM said that Botanist Timothy Tabone had written a paper entitled “A list of records of some rare vascular plant species occurring in the Maltese Islands,” which had been published in Nature Trust’s scientific journal, The Central Mediterranean Naturalist – CMN (2007 and 2008). Mr Tabone had mentioned the following rare species found in Wied tal-Grazzja: Apium nodiflorum, Persicaria lanigera and Persicria glabra, Vitex agnus-castus, Typha domingensis, and Bolboschoenus maritimus.

“This alone clearly shows that heavy machinery should not be used to clean the valley and the authorities should use caution in such undertakings,” NTM said. Nature Trust continued, that it “encourages measures aimed at harvesting rainwater, but it has to be ensured that such measures are carried out in a way that safeguards biodiversity.”

“The dredging works in Wied tal-Grazzja bring back ugly memories of the 1970s Rizq il-Widien project, which caused extensive damage to valley ecosystems. Nature Trust therefore urges MEPA to take immediate action to avoid the loss of rare and possibly protected plant species found in the valley,” Nature Trust concluded.

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