Assessing physical and social beach carrying capacity in Ramla Bay and Marsalforn Bay on the island of Gozo, Malta

Abstract

Beaches are highly popular places of recreation during summer, where a relative large number of people visit these coastal places for various reasons. To sustain the entire number of visitors, beaches must be equipped by sufficient public facilities and services accessible to all beach users. It is crucial that beach users do not experience a decline in their satisfaction during their visit at the beach because of overcrowding matters or other issues. Carrying Capacity assessments, are important tools in beach management strategies, and could determine a number of issues affecting beach users directly. In this study, Physical and Social Carrying Capacity were analysed in the two beaches of Ramla Bay and Marsalforn Bay in Goza, Malta. During this study, questionnaire surveys were the main instrument to obtain the beach users' opinion about various services and issues linked to their respective beach, while digital software was used to determine land area available at each beach. Initial results showed that the Marsalforn Bay and Ramla Bay can sustain around 275 and 649 individuals respectively. Such figures were reduced to 167 and 409 persons respectively, when they were compared to the Management Capacity according to beach users' perception. On the whole, both beaches are considered not to be affected by major concerns regarding over crowdedness. The main issues regarding Ramla Bay were beach cleaning and the substantial amount of pebbles found on the sand, while at Marsalforn Bay, beach users were mostly dissatisfied with the lack of public facilities, and the number of lifeguards present at the beach.