Environment and Rural Affairs minister George Pullicino describes as ‘within normal parameters’ the water within the inlet known il-Kalanka, limits of Delimara – despite the fact that pollution in this once pristine bay is clearly visible even from a distance, as evidenced by this picture taken recently by MaltaToday.
Last month, the Rural Affairs Ministry was alerted to the presence of a thick layer of white scum that had drifted into the bay from the direction of a nearby tuna fattening pen. Locals of the area have long suspected that this thick white foamy substance, which has been a regular presence in the vicinity in recent years, was the result of having tuna ranches too close to the coast.
The substance is believed to be a combination of excess fish food, and the tuna’s own natural fat which collects as the fish are confined in large numbers within a small space.
The MRRA confirmed with this newspaper that samples had been taken from the bay for testing in a laboratory. But according to the same ministry, the results of these tests indicate that there is nothing wrong with the seawater in this bay.
“The results of the water analysis show that the water quality in the Kalanka Bay is within normal parameters,” a spokesman for Pullicino’s ministry said yesterday. “Over and above water analysis next to fish farms is also carried out by MEPA.”
Readers are invited to compare the Minister’s assurance with the visual evidence demonstrated on this page... or better still, to visit il-Kalanka in person, especially when the prevailing wind blows from the Northwest.
Seeing is after all believing...
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