Spatial conflicts at the coast : aquaculture vs. tourism/recreation : one industry at the expense of the other?

Abstract

Aquaculture in Malta is a relatively new phenomenon. Marine-based fishfarming sites have been sprouting ever since the early 1990s all around the Maltese coast. Knowing that the coast is an area that caters for many different uses; they can on occasion get involved into spatial conflict. Thus the objective of this investigative dissertation is to assess the spatial conflict and the possible impacts that aquaculture might have on tourism and recreation. Malta, being a small island state it has time and again depended on tourism as its major industry. The need to diversify industry thus arises, but this same alternative industry could be possibly competing for space with a pillar of the Maltese economy, that of tourism, due to a conflict with recreation. Aquaculture may also put pressure on the marine habitat and the coastal ecosystems, thus influencing also the natural beauty and the thriving of the environment in which it is set up. This may be accomplished primarily by the generation of wastes from the farms and also by the land-based facilities. Hence, in addition of being a potential eyesore, fish farm units can also disrupt ecosystems, leading to the degradation of the environment. Knowing that tourism can be affected negatively by a bad state of environment, there is a need to manage aquaculture so as to prevent a potential avenue for the disruption of the tourism industry. Therefore to test the hypothesis; "the aquaculture industry is in spatial conflict with the tourism/recreation industry, due to a climate of negative perceptions created by the aquaculture industry", two different sites where chosen, one where the cage sites are not visible from the beach, that is, in Mellieha Bay, even though they are visible from the camping site at L-Ahrax. The other site is St. Paul's Bay where there is almost a conglomeration of fish farming sites, which are visible from every point of the coastal area of St. Paul's Bay, including Bugibba and Qawra. Mellieha Bay was chosen as one of the study areas since it is the largest sandy beach in Malta, and probably the most popular with tourists and Maltese residents. St. Paul's Bay was selected, as it probably is the most tourist-populated area in Malta in summer. Maltese people, who move to this area for summer, also heavily populate it. As this dissertation focuses on the spatial conflict between aquaculture and tourism/recreation, the author had to choose locations which are popular with tourists and residents in order to assess the hypothesis.