Red-letter day for marine education

Abstract

Much headway has been achieved in recent years in terms of local marine conservation, particularly the designation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). There are currently five such areas – Rdum Majjiesa, Dwejra, Filfla-Għar Lapsi, Mġarr ix-Xini and the North-East MPA. They encompass 18,000 hectares or five per cent of our territorial waters and include vast swathes of Posidonia oceanica (Neptune Grass) meadows. Monitoring of indicator and protected marine species, notably the Noble Pen Shell (Pinna nobilis) has also been embarked upon.