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 2_ Fisheries_
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 – Fishermen, Stewardship of NATURA2000 – LIFE+ MIGRATE
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.
Loggerhead turtles during their oceanic juvenile phase become an oasis of life, aggregating birds, algae, invertebrates and small fish. Thousands of turtles generate thousands of bait balls that feed tunas, swordfish and many other top pelagics.
Waqt il-fażi ta’ żvilupp tagħhom, fkieren tal-baħar jservu ta’ oażi ta’ ħajja għal qtajja ta’ għasafar talbaħar, alka, invertebrati u speċi żgħar ta’ ħut. Eluf ta’ fkieren, hekk kif ifaqsu, kull sena jipprovdu għalf lit-tonn, pixxispad u speċi oħra pelaġiċi.
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.
In 1971, Malta extended its jurisdiction beyond its territorial waters up to 25 nautical miles with respect to the exercise of sovereign rights for the purpose of exploring and exploiting, conserving and managing the living and, or non-living natural resources therein. The legal instrument used to bring these waters under Malta’s jurisdiction was the Territorial Waters and Contiguous Zone Act (CAP. 226). This claim is a subset of an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and is in line with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) which is an international agreement that sets conditions and limits on the use and exploitation of the oceans. This Convention also sets the rules for the maritime jurisdictional boundaries of the different signatory states. Malta’s claim has brought about both rights and duties on Malta as a Coastal State with regard to the utilisation and Ccnservation of the existing resources and the enforcement of laws and regulations. As a Member State of the European Union, jurisdiction on these waters remains Malta’s prerogative. The management of the living aquatic resources are primarily subject to the provisions of EU law, in particular the Common Fisheries Policy, the Mediterranean Regulation and the Control Regulation. Access to the fishing waters under the jurisdiction of Malta is primarily regulated through the Mediterranean Regulation which introduces a fishing effort regime. Fishing activities related to trawling in these waters are either limited or banned and constitute a Fishing Restricted Area for which special rules apply in terms of control under the Control Regulation. This area includes artificial reefs, conservation areas around wrecks, Special Areas of Conservation (SACs)
Mosaic from Knossos
Factsheet_
Such competition often exists between the more coastal fishing arts and the bottlenose dolphin leading to the problem of depredation of catches with resulting damage to fishing gear by dolphins. This is a common problem to many coastal Mediterranean fisheries, and one that until now has not found any solutions. In offshore waters, similar depredation problems are increasingly affecting long-lining fisheries, with species such as the rough-toothed dolphin and the Risso’s dolphin being commonly involved. These problems are some of the main challenges faced given the important economic impact they can have on the affected fisheries. In some cases, the opportunistic feeding of dolphins around fishing gear has not yet reached a level of risk, however, preventive measures should be implemented before significant negative impacts occur. Such a risk is also associated with dolphins feeding around aquaculture pens, an issue already quite common in Maltese waters. In other cases the cohabitation of fisheries, cetaceans and marine turtles finds situations of risk that are easier to solve. The incidental capture, or bycatch of marine turtles in long-lines or the entanglement in ghost fishing are issues for which scientific data and technological measures may provide a solution that benefits both the fishers and the protected species. These Management Guidelines focus on a series of issues that have been identified as a risk for both cetaceans and marine turtles as well as for artisanal Maltese fisheries, with the firm belief that management measures should be a win-win solution for all of these players as part of a unique and extraordinary ecosystem.
There are few things more intriguing and fascinating than the science of ancestral fisheries. In Malta the maximum expression of this fishers science that has evolved over 8,000 years can be described. Throughout this time there has been a close relationship between fishers, cetaceans and marine turtles. Artisanal long-lining, fishing traps and lampuki fisheries of Malta are traditional and constitute a treasure of Mediterranean maritime culture that must be preserved. In the context of the environmental crisis in the Mediterranean, resulting from a combination of pressures (pollution, over fishing, habitat destruction, noise pollution, etc.) the relation between fishers and protected species is not always easy. In certain instances these species and fishers are in perfect symbiosis, however, in others there is an increasing competition for resources that can lead to risk for both.
www.marinenatura2000malta.com
It is also for this reason that the Guidelines focus on risks to artisanal fisheries that result from other activities, such as uncontrolled sports fishing or the entrance of foreign fishing fleets sometimes using gear that is illegal in the EU and the Mediterranean. Pollution of water by toxic substances, hydrocarbons and debris is common to all sectors, and the fishing sector is also potentially a significant source. The risk of inadequate waste management regimes or strategies, and in particular the disposal at sea of plastic waste, discarded or lost fishing gear and hydrocarbon fuels and lubricants is of particular concern.
Far left: Luzzu, the traditional boat Center left: Ghost fishing Center right: Debris Pollution Far right: Toxic Pollution
Editorial design and illustration: GOBIUS 2015 www.gobius.pt
FISHERIES IN MALTA
and Special Protection Areas (SPAs), as well as designated areas for trawlers. The measures adopted within Malta’s FMZ are designed to limit fishing effort and capacity by restricting the sizes and engine power of fishing vessels. Only vessels smaller than 12m overall length are allowed to fish within the zone, since these are considered to be boats that practice small scale coastal fishing, which, in principle, is a more sustainable fishery and is less harmful to the stocks and their habitat. By way of derogation and subject to specific authorisations, vessels larger than 12m are allowed to practice four types of fishing activities within the waters under Malta’s jurisdiction. These include trawling, fishing for LAMPUKI using Fish Aggregating Devices (FAD), small-scale purse-seining, and longline fishing, primarily for tuna, swordfish and other highly migratory species.
Factsheet_
RISK MITIGATION MEASURES For most potential risks, prevention and mitigation measures exist. For others, the collaboration between the regulatory frameworks and authorities, the fishers and scientists, is developing and testing new technological measures that can make social and economic growth compatible with the conservation of marine biodiversity. INCIDENTAL CAPTURE/BYCATCH OF MARINE TURTLES: Bycatch of marine turtles in surface long-lines can in most cases be solved to a great extent with simple measures, including operational changes, identification of bycatch risk seasonal and geographic hotspots, adequate marine turtle handling and release and recovery of severely injured turtles at recovery centres. During the summer months when water temperatures are high and sea turtles become more active, there is a higher risk of accidental capture. But during these months, simple measures like setting hooks deeper than 60 metres and using fish bait or artificial bait can greatly reduce bycatch of such turtles, although this would need further monitoring and assessments
60m fish or artificial bait
DEPREDATION OF FISHING GEAR BY DOLPHINS: Despite the intensive research effort worldwide conducted by scientists in collaboration with affected fisheries, there are currently no fully effective or feasible technological measures to mitigate the impact of this problem. More research is needed to assess, mitigate and monitor this risk, fishery by fishery.
UNCONTROLLED SPORTS FISHING: Commercial fisheries are increasingly being regulated as a requirement for the improvement of the sustainability of this activity which has to provide an adequate response to an increasing demand for high quality nutrients from the sea. Illegal and un-reported fishing or uncontrolled sports fishing constitutes an important threat to national, regional and international policy for the sustainability of fisheries. There is therefore an urgent need to address this issue in order to ensure the competitiveness of responsible fishers. OPPORTUNISTIC FEEDING BY DOLPHINS AROUND FISH-FARMS: The opportunistic feeding by dolphins around fish-farms requires the establishment of some regulatory and/or preventive measures. These may include regulations to ensure the optimal conditions for the coexistence of the aquaculture activities with these species. GHOST FISHING AND DEBRIS POLLUTION: Ghost fishing (i.e. the capture of marine organisms by lost, abandoned or otherwise discarded fishing gear or parts thereof which is lost by fishers) has been observed in relation to pelagic species in Maltese waters. Three main measures may be useful; firstly the reduction at the source, secondly the organisation of debris removal at concentration sites (beaches, dive sites, gyres and/or fronts), and thirdly the development of technological measures to manage the risk of ghost fishing. REPORTING OF BYCATCH AND MANAGEMENT OF DISCARDS: Mitigating the risk of sea turtle bycatch is not only a matter of conservation, according to fishers, sea turtles play an important role as fish aggregating devices (FAD); they play a role and create a sort of oasis effect around them in the opensea. A system is urgently required to enhance and facilitate the collaboration of fishers in the assessment, management and monitoring of bycatch of protected species. Direct reporting to authorities site constitutes an important contribution. DEBRIS POLLUTION: Appropriate waste management in accordance with international regulations is critical to avoid the accumulation at sea of debris. Debris pollution in the oceans has become a problem of global proportions that can even cause damage to fishing vessels in gyres of mass accumulation of macro plastics. Reporting of areas of debris accumulation is important for the establishment of mitigation measures. Likewise, the removal of bundles of twine or drifting fishing gear and debris is an important contribution to the conservation of marine biodiversity.
TOXIC POLLUTION: Appropriate management of fuels, lubricants and bilge water in accordance with international regulations is critical to avoid the accumulation of hydrocarbons in the seas. Reporting of areas of hydrocarbon accumulation is important for the establishment of mitigation measures.
FISHERMEN AND THE STEWARDSHIP OF OUR SEAS Professional fishers can play an important role in the stewardship of our oceans. At sea year-round even often in adverse conditions, fishers are eyes for the surveillance of the most remote areas and inhospitable seasons. Fishers and other frequent sea-users, can potentially contribute to the surveillance in areas where nobody else can, and offer a unique platform of opportunity to potentially conduct debris, pollution removal and collect scientific data for the monitoring of ocean ecosystems. Participation and collaboration in research targeting ecosystem-based management as well as pollution contingency plans contributing to platforms of marine observation and forecasting is encouraged.
DIRECT COMPETITION Direct competition between fisheries and top predators (like some species of cetaceans) can be a potential risk in certain cases, but this is more common to sites where the marine food web has less species, and when keystone species are targeted in an unsustainable manner. This has been the case with sardine fisheries in certain Mediterranean sites, where over-fishing of this keystone species has had a cascading effect on cetaceans and other top predators such as tunas and swordfish. INDIRECT COMPETITION In certain cases the over-fishing of certain high commercial value species in a very selective manner can disturb the balance of the food-web and therefore have an indirect negative effect on other species such as cetaceans or sea turtles. A good example of this in recent years has been observed with the fluctuations in blue-fin tuna abundance as a result of strong species specific management schemes.
Far left: Bycatch Center left: Ghost fishing Center right: Illegal Driftnets Far right: Turtles provide shelter for fish
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 2_ Fisheries_
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 – Fishermen, Stewardship of NATURA2000 – LIFE+ MIGRATE
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.
Loggerhead turtles during their oceanic juvenile phase become an oasis of life, aggregating birds, algae, invertebrates and small fish. Thousands of turtles generate thousands of bait balls that feed tunas, swordfish and many other top pelagics.
Waqt il-fażi ta’ żvilupp tagħhom, fkieren tal-baħar jservu ta’ oażi ta’ ħajja għal qtajja ta’ għasafar talbaħar, alka, invertebrati u speċi żgħar ta’ ħut. Eluf ta’ fkieren, hekk kif ifaqsu, kull sena jipprovdu għalf lit-tonn, pixxispad u speċi oħra pelaġiċi.