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_ Transport_
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 – Navigators, 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.
Since the earliest days of navigation, dolphins have played at our ships bows. Their fascinating relationship with navigators is captured in our arts, legends and folklore of the Mediterranean.
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.
Maritime commerce is the driver of economies worldwide. In a vast network of moving parts, goods and people are safely and economically moved to ports throughout all oceans. freight travels by sea. In this global context, the Mediterranean is one spots with the passage of over 25% of the world’s cargo vessels, the Sicily Channel, Strait of Gibraltar and the Suez Canal being major bottlenecks.
Factsheet_
MARITIME TRANSPORT IN MALTA
MARITIME TRANSPORT, CETACEANS AND
sectors, however, are considered to be potentially
MARINE TURTLES
accidents and collisions that can result in fuel or dangerous cargo entering the marine ecosystem is of particular concern. Likewise, a potential risk related to global scale shipping is the transport of alien species between ocean basins. Untreated ballast water exchange and associated sediments and fouling on ships’ hulls may cause the introduction of alien species that poses a risk
There are few things more intriguing and fascinating than the relationship between navigators and dolphins bow-riding and accompanying their ships. However, in present times the cohabitation between shipping and cetaceans or marine turtles can cause situations of potential risk that need to be managed appropriately, both for the conservation of endangered species as well as for the safety of navigators and passengers.
good conditions in the new environment and become invasive species.
With regards to global scale cargo transport, lanes and as a core for diverse services related to this sector. Major shipping ports of Malta are located at Valletta and Birzebbuga, and a major characteristic of this sector in Malta is the presence of bunkering zones, the larger of which covers a large extension of the Northeast coast of Malta between Valletta, Marsaxlokk and north from 12 nautical miles to the 25 nautical mile limit.
through the Sicilian channel and around Malta. cargo, including close to 25% of the world’s “dangerous cargo” vessels. Some north – south cargo transport is also present in the region. With regards to passenger transport, the historical ports of Malta, particularly the Grand Harbour Valletta, are a top destination for cruise liners. In terms of local and regional passenger transport, there is an important route between the islands of Malta, Comino and Gozo, and a daily fast ferry line between Valletta and Sicily. Charters, coastal tours and private yachting are considered in further detail under the sector of tourism.
RISK MITIGATION MEASURES High vessel speed and noise are two of the major alterations of the world’s oceans that are of concern for the conservation of cetacean and marine turtle populations. Since the beginning of the 20th Century the technological development in shipping and growth of transport, military and of the oceans radically, altering the orientation, reproduction and feeding of marine species highly dependent on the use of sound waves. .
In parallel, and especially over the last decades, the increase in vessel speed has introduced a new form of potential risk to marine species dependent on surfacing to breathe, decompress however, observations at sea and stranding records indicate that this impact could in certain cases be at the population level. Pollution of water by toxic substances, hydrocarbons and debris are common to all
www.marinenatura2000malta.com
For most potential risks, prevention and mitigation measures exist. For others, the collaboration between authorities, the shipping 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 Engines, propellers, and hull noise can be greatly reduced by good maintenance and optimisation of technological measures that not only mitigate risk of noise pollution but Engines, propellers, and hull noise can be greatly reduced by good maintenance and optimisation of technological measures that not only mitigate risk of noise pollution but
Factsheet_ VESSEL STRIKES Collisions between vessels and whales occur across various species and at varying frequencies depending on the co-location of vessels and whale aggregations in certain geographic areas resulting from the convergence of shipping routes with whale migrations routes and feeding patterns. Studies indicate that tens, or perhaps hundreds, of such collisions occur annually in all the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oceans, and involve all large whale species and all vessel types. A number of approaches have been taken to reduce the threat of vessel strikes of large whales in various geographic settings. These actions include (a) mariner awarenessraising programs, and (b) modifications to customary vessel operation practices including reductions in vessel speed and changes in vessel routing patterns. To date, all such measures have been enacted regionally, i.e., in certain locations and times where local whale populations are adversely affected. IMOTAP, a collaborative initiative to provide the shipping sector with solutions for the mitigation of collision risk was launched in 2013 in LIFE+ INDEMARES. INVASIVE SPECIES The International Maritime Organisation adopted in 2004 the International Convention for the Control and Management of Shipsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM Convention). The Convention will require all ships to implement a Ballast Water and Sediments Management Plan. All ships will have to carry a Ballast Water Record Book and will be required to carry out ballast water management procedures to a given standard.
Parties to the Convention are given the option to take additional measures which are subject to criteria set out in the Convention and to IMO Guidelines.
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. 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 a global scale that can even cause damage to large vessels in gyres of mass accumulation of macro plastics. Reporting of areas of debris accumulation is important for the establishment of mitigation measures.
PORT OF MGARR PORT OF CIRKEWWA
PORT OF ST PAUL'S BAY LA VALLETA GRAND HARBOUR
PORT OF MARSAXLOKK
MARINERS AND THE STEWARDSHIP OF OUR SEAS Professional mariners can play an important role in the stewardship of our oceans. Covering practically all oceanic regions, including the most remote and inhospitable, mariners contribute to the surveillance in areas where nobody else can, and offer a unique platform of opportunity to collect scientific data for the monitoring of ocean ecosystems. Participation and collaboration with contingency plans, pollution management platforms and ocean observation and forecasting platforms is critical.
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_ Transport_
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 – Navigators, 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.
Since the earliest days of navigation, dolphins have played at our ships bows. Their fascinating relationship with navigators is captured in our arts, legends and folklore of the Mediterranean.