Diving Association plans to scuttle tugboat off Exiles

The Professional Diving Schools Association (PDSA) has proposed the scuttling of a tugboat off Exiles beach to serve as a diving attraction. The preferred scuttling location is in 22 metres of water some 252m off St Julians point and 380m off the Portomaso breakwater. It is approximately 500m to the southeast of Merkanti Reef. The proposal is subject to a public consultation by Mepa after an Environmental Planning Statement was commissioned by the Malta Tourism Authority. The  development application was submitted to MEPA in March 2009. The EPS was prepared by Adi Associates Environmental Consultants Ltd. The report says that the seabed in the area is gently sloping and is characterised by a diverse geomorphology / benthos arranged largely in wide bands running form a southwest to a northeast direction. Aerial photography of the Exiles area indicated the presence of a band of sand snaking out of the Balluta Bay / Spinola area towards the open sea and located in between two rocky areas that skirt the shoreline at Il-Qaliet / Portomaso and the Exiles areas, which are characterised by infralittoral algae and Posidonia oceanica meadows. The tugboat is 30m long, has a 7.5m beam...