LIFE+ MIGRATE was launched in October 2012 with the goal of implementing parts of the European Union’s Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC) with regards to establishing the conservation status of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Maltese waters and establishing an important zones for them. The Project is coordinated by the Maltese Environment Planning Authority (MEPA), as the lead beneficiary, with KAI Marine and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC) as partners and Bank of Valletta (BOV) as a cofinancier. KAI Marine is an international interdisciplinary team of experts in the design of management schemes for the conservation of great pelagic marine species. The outcome of one of the actions under the LIFE+ MIGRATE is a series of guidelines for the adequate management of the potential risks to the maintenance of a favourable conservation status of the cetacean and sea turtle populations present in Maltese waters. Among these guidelines, that are based on a solid scientific foundation, is the identification of potential sites that should be included in Europe’s network of protected areas, NATURA 2000.
For more information please visit: WWW.LIFEPROJECTMIGRATE.COM WWW.MARINENATURA2000MALTA.COM
PROJ ECT MIGRATE - LIFE11 NAT//MT/1070 EU LIFE+ Funding Programme This project is part-financed by the European Union Co-financing rate: 49.4 % EU Funds; 37.1 % National Funds and 13.5 % Private funds
booklet 5_ Energy_
Natura 2000 sites
Front page map: “Satelite image of Malta”. Licenced under the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg
MALTA – Making Biodiversity And Development Compatible
Europe’s main contribution to the Convention for Biological Diversity is the Habitats Directive and its NATURA 2000 network of sites that are critical for the breeding, feeding and migration of species that require special effort of conservation.
Marine animals are dependent on their hearing to navigate, communicate, find a mating partner and catch prey. Join us in protecting marine animals from marine noise.
GEOLOGY
neritic
LIFE MIGRATE+_
LIFE MIGRATE+_
<land
pelagic
LOGGERHEAD TURTLE
The LOGGERHEAD TURTLE (Caretta caretta; Maltese: Il-Fekruna tal-Baħar) is the most common sea turtle, and is listed in Annex II & Annex IV of the Habitat Directive. Loggerheads found in Maltese waters can possibly be of both Mediterranean and Atlantic origin (from the nesting beaches of the eastern shores of the Atlantic.
LAMPUKI
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN
During their sub adult life stage, turtles gain the ability to swim against the ocean currents, and at this point they can alternate the open sea phase with a coastal phase, where they approach the coast to feed on crustaceans and other demersal prey. At this point, turtles migrate back to the nesting beaches where they were born, in order to initiate their reproductive cycle at maturity around 24-30 years of age. At this stage, the female will nest in cycles of 2, 3 or 4 years, emerging on the beach to dig a boot shaped nest in the sand where she will lay around 100 eggs.
BLUE SHARKS AND OTHER PREDATORY FISH
OTHER CETACEANS
Other species of sea turtle and cetacean can also be found around Maltese waters, as the green turtle, the striped dolphin, the Risso’s dolphin, the long finned pilot whale, the beaked whale, the fin whale and the sperm whale. Among these species, it is important to highlight the Mediterranean common dolphin.
seamount
COMMON DOLPHIN
4000m abyssal
upwelling of nutrients epipelagic 200m zoning
continental slope
PHYSIOGRAPHY plays a key role in the lives of cetaceans and sea turtles. Features such as sea mounts or escarpments are landmarks for navigation, but also aggregate prey either directly by offering a habitat for benthic and demersal species or indirectly by inducing upwellings. Different cetaceans have different preferences for either the continental shelves or slope or deep waters. BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS feeding on demersal fish or loggerhead turtles feeding on benthic invertebrates during their oceanic phase can be observed frequently on the continental shelf or along its edge. LOGGERHEAD TURTLES in their oceanic phase are generally found off the shelf edge in deeper waters. Likewise other cetacean species, an in particular odontocetes, are found offshore tracking deep sea squid. If we sail these deep waters using an echosounder, we can often observe what we call the deep scattering layer between 200 meters to over 1000. This is a layer that aggregates a mass of creatures as jellies and also several deep sea squid species that make up the most important part of the diet of odontocetes in the oceanic domain.
bathypelagic
zoning
Drifting around in surface waters, these turtles act as thousands of small oasis in the open seas. Aggregating algae, a mass of invertebrates and a cloud of small pelagic fish under their shade, turtles provide bait balls for hungry pelagic predators. Turtles themselves will feed on a variety of pelagic invertebrates including jellyfish.
The BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN (Tursiops truncatus; Maltese: Id-Denfil ta’ Geddumu Qasir) is one of the more coastal dolphin species in European waters. This cosmopolitan species is found as an offshore sub species and a coastal subspecies. Around Malta bottlenose dolphins are found regularly in small pods foraging on demersal prey along the continental shelf edge but also taking advantage of fishing gear and fish farms to obtain an easy meal.
THE OCEANIC REALM Marine ecosystems are difficult for us to visualize, unlike habitats on land that are easy for people to make reference to. In appearance, this is just an endless blue surface, but underneath that surface there are extraordinary physiographic and oceanographic features. Think of water flows larger than the Amazon, or escarpments far deeper than the famous Grand Canyon.
BLUEFIN TUNA
Emerging from the sand after an average of a 60-day incubation under the sun, hatchlings race out to the open seas where they enter the first phase of their extraordinary life cycle. During this open sea phase, turtles are transported by surface currents agrregating with other current-driven organisms, like jellies, and will spend several years throughout their juvenile years until they become sub adults.
continental shelf
25 n.m.
Other OCEANOGRAPHIC FEATURES as currents, frontal zones, down-wellings, and up-wellings play also a key role in aggregating the prey of cetaceans and aggregating and / or dispersing turtles migrating passively during their oceanic phase. Temperature on the other hand plays a crucial role with regards to sea turtles, that as reptiles see their metabolic rate affected by waters much warmer or colder than their preferred 18 degrees C.
mesopelagic 1000m zoning
THE BLUE SERENGETI
Malta’s position in the channel between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins makes it a site of particular interest for the great pelagic wonderers of our seas. Lampuki/dolphin fish, swordfish, bluefin tunas, sharks, cetaceans and marine turtles as well as seabirds probably use these islands’s waters and as landmark for their migrations.
Editorial design and illustration: GOBIUS 2015 www.gobius.pt
SEABIRDS
SITES OF SPECIAL RELEVANCE AROUND THE ISLANDS OF MALTA AND GOZO The Maltese Islands consists of a group of 3 islands with Malta being the largest, situated at the southern tip of the continental shelf of Sicily. To the east from these islands, there is a steep escarpment that plunges to the abyss of the Ionian where the Mediterranean reaches its record depth of over 4,000 meters. Malta also designated a 25 nautical mile Fisheries Management Zone, where the deepest waters are found to the south west and north west of the archipelago.
Energy production in coastal and marine areas has often a great potential but unfortunately also extremely important economic and logistical challenges given the often adverse and hostile conditions of the marine environment. Several projects are currently in their planning stage in Malta, both for the production of water by desalination as for the surveying of potential fossil fuel reservoirs.
MARITIME ENERGY, DESALINATION AND CETACEANS AND MARINE TURTLES Industrial development and biodiversity conservation can be perfectly compatible if adequate risk prevention and mitigation measures are put in place. Energy-related projects are to take into account the
Factsheet_
ENERGY AND WATER DESALINATION AT SEA IN MALTA
main vulnerabilities of such species and their critical habitats, as per national and international law. WIND-FARMS Possible future marine wind farm projects should take into consideration potential effects on marine fauna, especially during the construction phases, when pile driving or other activities with acoustic emissions could be a potential risk for cetaceans.. SEISMIC SURVEYS There may be potential risks involved in seismic surveys that may require the adoption of prevention and mitigation measures. Air gun arrays are used primarily for seismic oil and gas exploration and for research purposes. Air guns produce sound by introducing air into the water at high pressure, usually directed toward the sea floor, with up to 20 guns being fired in synchrony, while “streamers” of hydrophones record reflections from the sub-surface. The seismic air gun pulses used in the oil industry usually penetrate a few kilometres into the Earth’s crust, after having already travelled through the water column. Seismic surveys with air guns may last for many weeks at a time, depending on the nature and objective of the survey.
www.marinenatura2000malta.com
The UN General Assembly on sustainable fisheries has called upon the FAO to carry out studies on the socio-economic impacts of ocean noise pollution on fisheries – namely OP153 of document A/RES/68/71 which reads as follows: “Encourages further studies, including by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, on the impacts of underwater noise on fish stocks and fishing catch rates, as well as associated socioeconomic effects”. The need for such studies should not be underestimated. The use of air guns near fish stocks severely affects their distribution, local abundance as well as trawl and long-line catch rates. It has been explained that catch rates do not return to normal even days after noise has abated.
Factsheet_
RISK MITIGATION MEASURES For most potential risks, prevention and mitigation measures exist. For others, the collaboration between the regulatory frameworks and authorities, the industry and scientists, is developing and testing new technological measures that can make social and economic growth compatible with the conservation of marine biodiversity. NOISE POLLUTION Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) for noise generating activities such as offshore petroleum and gas exploration may provide
a science-based tool for decision makers to better understand the consequences of their decisions, evaluate alternatives and mitigate impacts as for example through the proposal of species exclusion zones. Major progress in mitigation of noise emission for pile driving has been made in recent years through the development and application of quieting systems such as bubble curtains, isolation casings, cofferdams, and Hydro Sound Dampers. Hence, the application of the available noise mitigation technologies should be considered.
energy (anything over 100 Hz up to as high as 1 kHz) that is unused by the petroleum industry or geophysical researchers. They also produce an impulsive sound that may have an effect on marine life because it is so sharp (with a fast rise time). Various mitigation measures and more environmentally benign alternatives exist and should be used, such as e.g. Marine Vibroseis, which can be over 1,000 times quieter, without the sharp rise time and without any of the wasted sound. In some environments, it even outperforms air guns in collecting geophysical data.
Seismic air guns used primarily for oil and gas exploration generate a underwater noise
REFERENCE DOCUMENTS, MATERIALS AND LINKS: www.marinenatura2000malta.com . Aguilar, N. (2012). Brief review: impacts of marine seismic surveys and oil-drilling on marine fauna. University of Auckland. . ASCOBANS. Development of Noise Mitigation Measures in Offshore Wind Farm Construction 2013. . CSA Ocean Sciences Inc. 2014. Quieting Technologies for Reducing Noise During Seismic Surveying and Pile Driving Workshop. Summary Report for the US Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management BOEM 2014-061. Contract Number M12PC00008. 70 pp. + apps. . International Fund for Animal Welfare (2009). Reducing underwater noise pollution from large commercial vessels. . Prideaux G & Prideaux M (2013). Seismic Seas: Understanding the impact of offshore seismic petroleum exploration surveys on marine species, Wild Migration Technical and Policy Review: #3, Wild Migration, Australia. . Weilgart, L.S. (ed) 2010. Report of the Workshop on Alternative Technologies to Seismic Airgun Surveys for Oil and Gas Exploration and their Potential for Reducing Impacts on Marine Mammals. . Weilgart, L. (2012). A Review of the Impacts of Seismic Airgun Surveys on Marine Life. . Weilgart, L. (2013). â&#x20AC;&#x153;Marine Vibroseis: a Quieter Alternative Technology to Seismic Airguns for Collecting Geophysical Dataâ&#x20AC;?.
www.marinenatura2000malta.com
neritic
LIFE MIGRATE+_
LIFE MIGRATE+_
<land
pelagic
LOGGERHEAD TURTLE
The LOGGERHEAD TURTLE (Caretta caretta; Maltese: Il-Fekruna tal-Baħar) is the most common sea turtle, and is listed in Annex II & Annex IV of the Habitat Directive. Loggerheads found in Maltese waters can possibly be of both Mediterranean and Atlantic origin (from the nesting beaches of the eastern shores of the Atlantic.
LAMPUKI
BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN
During their sub adult life stage, turtles gain the ability to swim against the ocean currents, and at this point they can alternate the open sea phase with a coastal phase, where they approach the coast to feed on crustaceans and other demersal prey. At this point, turtles migrate back to the nesting beaches where they were born, in order to initiate their reproductive cycle at maturity around 24-30 years of age. At this stage, the female will nest in cycles of 2, 3 or 4 years, emerging on the beach to dig a boot shaped nest in the sand where she will lay around 100 eggs.
BLUE SHARKS AND OTHER PREDATORY FISH
OTHER CETACEANS
Other species of sea turtle and cetacean can also be found around Maltese waters, as the green turtle, the striped dolphin, the Risso’s dolphin, the long finned pilot whale, the beaked whale, the fin whale and the sperm whale. Among these species, it is important to highlight the Mediterranean common dolphin.
seamount
COMMON DOLPHIN
4000m abyssal
upwelling of nutrients epipelagic 200m zoning
continental slope
PHYSIOGRAPHY plays a key role in the lives of cetaceans and sea turtles. Features such as sea mounts or escarpments are landmarks for navigation, but also aggregate prey either directly by offering a habitat for benthic and demersal species or indirectly by inducing upwellings. Different cetaceans have different preferences for either the continental shelves or slope or deep waters. BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS feeding on demersal fish or loggerhead turtles feeding on benthic invertebrates during their oceanic phase can be observed frequently on the continental shelf or along its edge. LOGGERHEAD TURTLES in their oceanic phase are generally found off the shelf edge in deeper waters. Likewise other cetacean species, an in particular odontocetes, are found offshore tracking deep sea squid. If we sail these deep waters using an echosounder, we can often observe what we call the deep scattering layer between 200 meters to over 1000. This is a layer that aggregates a mass of creatures as jellies and also several deep sea squid species that make up the most important part of the diet of odontocetes in the oceanic domain.
bathypelagic
zoning
Drifting around in surface waters, these turtles act as thousands of small oasis in the open seas. Aggregating algae, a mass of invertebrates and a cloud of small pelagic fish under their shade, turtles provide bait balls for hungry pelagic predators. Turtles themselves will feed on a variety of pelagic invertebrates including jellyfish.
The BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN (Tursiops truncatus; Maltese: Id-Denfil ta’ Geddumu Qasir) is one of the more coastal dolphin species in European waters. This cosmopolitan species is found as an offshore sub species and a coastal subspecies. Around Malta bottlenose dolphins are found regularly in small pods foraging on demersal prey along the continental shelf edge but also taking advantage of fishing gear and fish farms to obtain an easy meal.
THE OCEANIC REALM Marine ecosystems are difficult for us to visualize, unlike habitats on land that are easy for people to make reference to. In appearance, this is just an endless blue surface, but underneath that surface there are extraordinary physiographic and oceanographic features. Think of water flows larger than the Amazon, or escarpments far deeper than the famous Grand Canyon.
BLUEFIN TUNA
Emerging from the sand after an average of a 60-day incubation under the sun, hatchlings race out to the open seas where they enter the first phase of their extraordinary life cycle. During this open sea phase, turtles are transported by surface currents agrregating with other current-driven organisms, like jellies, and will spend several years throughout their juvenile years until they become sub adults.
continental shelf
25 n.m.
Other OCEANOGRAPHIC FEATURES as currents, frontal zones, down-wellings, and up-wellings play also a key role in aggregating the prey of cetaceans and aggregating and / or dispersing turtles migrating passively during their oceanic phase. Temperature on the other hand plays a crucial role with regards to sea turtles, that as reptiles see their metabolic rate affected by waters much warmer or colder than their preferred 18 degrees C.
mesopelagic 1000m zoning
THE BLUE SERENGETI
Malta’s position in the channel between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean basins makes it a site of particular interest for the great pelagic wonderers of our seas. Lampuki/dolphin fish, swordfish, bluefin tunas, sharks, cetaceans and marine turtles as well as seabirds probably use these islands’s waters and as landmark for their migrations.
Editorial design and illustration: GOBIUS 2015 www.gobius.pt
SEABIRDS
SITES OF SPECIAL RELEVANCE AROUND THE ISLANDS OF MALTA AND GOZO The Maltese Islands consists of a group of 3 islands with Malta being the largest, situated at the southern tip of the continental shelf of Sicily. To the east from these islands, there is a steep escarpment that plunges to the abyss of the Ionian where the Mediterranean reaches its record depth of over 4,000 meters. Malta also designated a 25 nautical mile Fisheries Management Zone, where the deepest waters are found to the south west and north west of the archipelago.
LIFE+ MIGRATE was launched in October 2012 with the goal of implementing parts of the European Union’s Habitat Directive (92/43/EEC) with regards to establishing the conservation status of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) and the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) in Maltese waters and establishing an important zones for them. The Project is coordinated by the Maltese Environment Planning Authority (MEPA), as the lead beneficiary, with KAI Marine and the Ministry for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change (MSDEC) as partners and Bank of Valletta (BOV) as a cofinancier. KAI Marine is an international interdisciplinary team of experts in the design of management schemes for the conservation of great pelagic marine species. The outcome of one of the actions under the LIFE+ MIGRATE is a series of guidelines for the adequate management of the potential risks to the maintenance of a favourable conservation status of the cetacean and sea turtle populations present in Maltese waters. Among these guidelines, that are based on a solid scientific foundation, is the identification of potential sites that should be included in Europe’s network of protected areas, NATURA 2000.
For more information please visit: WWW.LIFEPROJECTMIGRATE.COM WWW.MARINENATURA2000MALTA.COM
PROJ ECT MIGRATE - LIFE11 NAT//MT/1070 EU LIFE+ Funding Programme This project is part-financed by the European Union Co-financing rate: 49.4 % EU Funds; 37.1 % National Funds and 13.5 % Private funds
booklet 5_ Energy_
Natura 2000 sites
Front page map: “Satelite image of Malta”. Licenced under the Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Satelite_image_of_Malta.jpg
MALTA – Making Biodiversity And Development Compatible
Europe’s main contribution to the Convention for Biological Diversity is the Habitats Directive and its NATURA 2000 network of sites that are critical for the breeding, feeding and migration of species that require special effort of conservation.
Marine animals are dependent on their hearing to navigate, communicate, find a mating partner and catch prey. Join us in protecting marine animals from marine noise.
GEOLOGY