Cold shoulder for Ċirkewwa Marine Park: Call for action – sign the petition!

Over the last few months, divers have noted minor developments at the Ċirkewwa Marine Park. Unfortunately, these did not result in improvements in the infrastructure, which despite the much acclaimed “Best Diving destination in the World”(!) Award earlier this year, remains in tatters.

(If you heard about the petition and you want to head directly to the petition, scroll down to the end of the page)

Current status of the land side of the Park

As at Easter 2025, fencing ripped off in a storm in January 2024 has not been properly repaired, dive site signs are still lying on the floor (although we are aware something is being done to replace them), kitting up benches are in dire need of maintenance, light fixtures in pieces and overall parking area in need of re-surfacing and parking guide lines redone.

The most notable actual upgrade was to the bins… although some of these are placed behind the temporary fencing installed in front of the pavements over a year ago. As a consequence these bins are out of reach and useless unless you want to play a bit of basketball over the fence!

Two rooms wasted

The main development over the last months, when one would expect the park to be given its due low season maintenance, have been works on and around the two rooms which are located next to the bathrooms at the park. The rooms, apparently owned by Transport Malta but rented to Gozo Channel Operations Limited (operators of the Gozo Ferries) had been lacking both any use and maintenance for years. The area in front is also used regularly as a trailer park.

These two rooms have for years been the subject of calls for these to be assigned to the Ċirkewwa Marine Park to serve as first aid rooms and doubling as an interpretation centre and site office for the park managers.

Instead, first aiders present in summer and park managers are during summer being housed in a rented mobile office / container rented from a well-known events company – costing the park probably an arm and a leg – which is removed in winter due to the massive storms that may hit the area. The container also eats up some more of the space for divers to kit up on site.

The works: fences put up, truck parking improved

The last previous works connected to these rooms, now almost a year ago, were works by Transport Malta to dismantle the decaying lantern above these rooms which was in a precarious state and had been subject to calls by divinginfo.mt to be taken care of to remove danger from its falling concrete.

Over the last weeks however Gozo Channel Operations Limited has been seen to suddenly waking up to do some works in the area.

Works visible have consisted in moving water tanks servicing the divers’ bathrooms to a spot right above them, and the blocking of access to the terrace/roof of the Gozo Channel rooms by installing a new high fence, complete with barbed wire. A fence type that would be expected at a prison or detention camp!

Other works have also been seen to have been done was the addition of two yellow poles to prevent trucks from breaking and falling into a manhole in the parking area in front of these rooms, effectively, improving their parking.

Birdwatchers goodbye, first aid equipment in the sun

This new fence has denied a prime spot for local and visiting birdwatchers to keep an eye on bird migration routes in the Gozo Channel.  Furthermore, this same terrace used to be used in emergency for rescuers looking out for any missing divers out at sea and for environmental rangers to monitor for illegal fishing in the park area. No works have been carried out to refurbish the inside of these rooms, for which apparently, the Gozo Ferries operator still has not found a use.

In the meantime, as you can see in the photo above taken last Sunday, a first aid spinal board and an AED are still housed outside in the sun. Outside in the sun or rain is also where any first aid will have to be carried out should there be any accident at the park, as the small space of the bathrooms does not allow for proper treatment and the park lacks any alternative covered or private space. (“Best Diving Destination”…. What???)

Considering the Gozo ferries’ terminal has a footprint of ca. 1200 square meters and has an underground level, it is quite curious why it needs the ca. 20 square meters offered by these rooms.

Parliamentary Questions

Over recent months via several Parliamentary Questions by Hon. Ivan Bartolo (PN), the issue of these rooms’ lack of use and potential better use by re-assignment to the Ċirkewwa Marine Park management was raised in parliamentary question time sessions. Questions were also raised about the area immediately in front of these rooms, about 280 square meters, which currently is serving as trailer parking, but could easily be re-allocated to improve parking spots and kitting up areas at the park.

Additionally, considering that quay space is normally considered a restricted area, as rightfully identified in PQ 25108 answered by the Minister for Gozo which is reproduced further below, one finds it hard to understand how private trucks are allowed to park in such an area, considering security concerns and potential for any hazardous loads.

Not that Gozo Channel seems to bother too much, as trucks are also seen to be placed right next to the ferry’s lesser used third ramp/quay. Why such parking is allowed is anybody’s guess, maybe it is free secure parking for the Gozo transporters’ companies? As you will see below, the Minister for Gozo was keen on highlighting security concerns for access to the area, but skirted the question on how such trucks are allowed to park there by saying that it was only for a few hours. Since Gozo Channel does not operate cargo trips on Sunday, some of the photos in this article taken on Sunday 13 April and on Easter Sunday, we beg to differ.

In response to Parliamentary Question 23896 to the new incoming Tourism Minister Ian Borg, given on 20 January 2025, the Minister almost sounds defeated that despite its best efforts, the MTA did not manage to secure the site:

“I inform the Hon. Questioner that the Malta Tourism Authority has been in discussions for a number of years with Transport Malta – who are the owners of the land, as well as with the Gozo Channel – who is the operator of this area and therefore have a right to these rooms in question. The Malta Tourism Authority will continue to work so that if possible, these rooms fall under the responsibility of the Ċirkewwa Marine Park so that they can be used as facilities for the Park.”

A follow up question via PQ25108 to Minister Clint Camilleri, the Minister for Gozo and responsible for the Gozo Channel company, was met with a slightly different, but slightly more promising answer on 13 February 2025:

“I inform the Hon. Questioner that these two rooms, together with the area mentioned, are being used by Gozo Channel Operations Ltd. Renovation and painting work is currently being carried out in these rooms. The vehicles mentioned are parked for a few hours until they are loaded onto the ship. This area together with the aforementioned rooms are leased by Transport Malta to Gozo Channel Operations Ltd together with the rest of the terminals, and fall within an area where access is restricted due to security reasons. Gozo Channel Operations Ltd is willing to discuss with Ċirkewwa Marine Park to see how it can assist in this regard.”

Despite the above answer, which seems almost promising to show a positive inclination, works started shortly after at the Ċirkewwa rooms not to assist the park, but rather to ensure the status quo & even deny birdwatchers, rescuers and persons monitoring for illegal fishing in the park area from the use of the vantage point as explained above.

Lack of respect for investment

Despite information from the Malta Tourism Authority that it so far has spent almost €620,000 on the Ċirkewwa Marine Park project as per the table below, possibly one of the largest commitments to the diving industry in recent years (out of a total of €1.5 Million in 5 years) and part of the Diving Masterplan of 2022, allocation of these rooms has been met with a very cold shoulder.

Source: Data from Parliamentary Question 23882

All of the above investment in setting up the park is yet to be further enshrined in legislation and measures to protect further the Ċirkewwa Marine Park zone, divers note the denial of the above facilities to be a slap in the face of all these efforts.

Furthermore, industry professionals are ashamed to see seriously injured divers being treated on the concrete and tarmac of the park’s pavements and parking. A recent case on 12 October 2024 saw a diver being given CPR in full view of people on site out in the sun at midday for a good 30 minutes until ambulance crews arrived on site to convey him to hospital. That diver eventually succumbed to his injuries. A better equipped first aid room might provide access to better and more advanced first aid equipment and conditions that may allow better recovery opportunities and/or at least, privacy.

It must be noted that the park attracts increasing significant numbers of divers every year. MTA statistics provided state that between June and November 2024, about 90,000 divers visited the park. This number is further supported by statistics indicating that over 130,000 persons visit these islands yearly primarily for diving tourism, equivalent to over 4% of all incoming tourists, and that number goes up to almost 200,000 for those that also carry out diving whilst in Malta, with Ċirkewwa Marine Park being the most visited site.

In economic terms, these result in over 1.5 million bed nights with an average stay of 8 days, which indicates a higher spending tourist than the ones that pop over for a quick weekend.

However, the Ċirkewwa Marine Park needs improvement in infrastructure, formal establishment in legal terms and the implementation of the management plan. This renders the justification for the “Diving Destination of the Year” award at Boot Dusseldorf 2005 as partly awarded due to the establishment of the Park almost tragi-comic!

We have been recently informed that the Management Committee has been set up between the MTA, Transport Malta and ERA. Also on the cards is replacement of the rusty signs, some other site furniture and improvement of access to the water at certain points.

Inclusion of the Gozo Channel rooms and the parking area marked in the pictures above would be another worthy addition to the park, of much better benefit to the diving community than to the cockroaches in these rooms and the owners of the container trucks being parked there. More respect for the people working there, and those enjoying the site, locals and visiting divers alike is due. These facilities are sorely needed.

Again, a photo from a mid-April Sunday (a very busy weekend before Easter) to show how we treat incoming tourists… with no space to kit except for the pavement, where they will be also treated with first aid protocols if anything goes horribly wrong during their dive!

Call for action – petition

We call for you divers, friends and persons with common sense to help us in calling for some sense by the authorities in question. As we did in other campaigns so far which have brought some results (such as declaring artificial wrecks no transit zones for maritime traffic), we call on you to be active, not passive.

For the Ċirkewwa Marine Park to flourish, we call on divers and friends to please read and make the below statements your own, and sign up the petition below which in the following weeks we will send to the Office of the Prime Minister and the Ministers for responsible Tourism, Gozo, Transport and Lands.

We shall be also copying the Ombudsman in order to carry out their necessary assessments and identify why reaping the fruits of so much public investment in diving tourism is being curtailed by the interests of a very few (e.g. truck parking), or being screwed up by mismanagement of this area by central authorities.

We call on action to be taken, and not keep twiddling our fingers, or say something like assistance will be given and instead the opposite is done!

What do we ask for in the petition?

1. Ċirkewwa Marine Park must be formally set up via a legislative instrument which formally delineates the park area, assignment of responsibilities and dedication of resources. Following an investment of over €600,000 in the Park over the last few years, it is important that this is formally established for the future.
2. Divers’ organisations should be actively represented on the Ċirkewwa Marine Park management council as users of the site. So far, the Ċirkewwa Marine Park Management Plan indicates stakeholders as being ok to consult with, but not to sit on the council. We suggest at least one representative from the diving industry and one from diving NGOs should be sitting in council meetings as primary stakeholders.
3. Land-side, the existing two rooms currently assigned to Gozo Channel Operations Limited next to the Park’s bathrooms should be released and re-assigned to the Ċirkewwa Marine Park management body for use as site offices, interpretation centre and a first aid room.
4. The roof of these rooms should be made into a terrace with seating and tables where divers may be given dive briefings and accompanying non-divers can rest and/or keep an eye on the sea, bird watchers monitor bird migrations and also serve as an observation facility in case of late to return and/or missing divers.
5. The inner divers’ parking area should be extended into the area immediately in front of these two rooms by re-alignment of the Ċirkewwa Marine Park fencing, adding these precious 280 square metres. This will create additional parking space, but also allowing immediate access to an emergency exit from the water between the main Ċirkewwa breakwater and the lighthouse structure which is currently blocked off.
6. Between May and October, the parking spaces next to the sea-wall in Ċirkewwa separating the diving area from the main parking area next to the Ċirkewwa Ferry Terminal (ca. 15 parking spaces) should be restricted for divers between 9am and 1pm to cater for the busier extended summer periods. Cargo Trailers should be marshalled in the main car marshalling area or on South Quay (save for bad weather), rather than in this side road since daily crossings are done for Cargo. This will separate traffic for the ferry from the diving site.
7. Traffic management near the Police Station needs to be improved so that divers’ vehicles and especially, ambulances conveying casualties to hospital need not pass right through the terminal parking and bus terminus to allow for speedier traffic flow. This needs simple flattening of two seldom used wide pavements and appropriate road signs.
8. Improvements and maintenance to be carried out to the Ċirkewwa Marine Park land-side areas, including:
   • Re-surfacing and levelling of the car park following inclusion of the additional space in front of the rooms.
   • Re-installation of appropriate fencing which is weather resistant.
   • Installation of additional kitting up benches on the Gozo Ferries side, along sea side of entrance to the divers area and in added area to cater for increasing number of divers.
   • Re-furbishing and/or re-installation of current light fittings and site furniture.
   • Improvement of CCTV on site to cater for public safety, which pickpockets having occasionally been active in the area at busy times.
   • Improvement of access to the water at the central divers’ entrance to the sea which currently has a ramp ending with multiple steps to enable better access for divers with challenged mobility. The main prime diving site in Malta has no facilities at all for such divers, except a bathroom! Galvanised metal walking paths such as those installed at Anchor Bay would also prevent slips and many unnecessary slipping injuries.
   • Refurbishing or installation of vandal-resistant toilet facilities that are accessible 24×7 for divers having night dives at the park as well as other visitors. The addition of an external fixed shower with a time limited shower valve to enable divers to rinse off after diving in peak and even after peak hours when current bathrooms are unattended and closed.

Sign-up here

The petition below will be open for signatures from 21 April until 30 April 2025 (10 days). We shall be showing petition numbers below (refresh the page after submission to see your entry to have been received and any comment you may have made), but we will leave out your personal details (if entered) from being published on the website.

The petition will then be sent to the authorities mentioned above on 1 May 2025.

Ċirkewwa Marine Park Divers' Petition – April 2025

The undersigned (including anonymous respondents) wish to petition the relevant authorities to live up to the “World’s Best Diving Destination” marketing and carry out the actions at Ċirkewwa Marine Park called for in this article, for the benefit of the diving community and to live up to the expectations of both local and visiting divers. Article link: https://www.divinginfo.mt/cold-shoulder-for-cirkewwa-marine-park-call-for-action/

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• I agree with the actions requested and wish to sign up to this petition.
• I agree with the actions requested and wish to sign up to this petition with amendments as per below comments.
• I disagree with this petition, will state my reason below.

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Petition responses

So far, we have 245 entries to the petition. The below are your most recent responses to the petition (names & emails are not shown).

Credits: Photos were taken by divinginfo.mt and snippets from Skyline Webcams and Google Maps. Certain key specific information was provided following queries to the Malta Tourism Authority and the Ċirkewwa Marine Park administration without specifying the nature of this article. We thank the respective respondents and many divers who contributed their opinions in the preparation of this article.