Photography

Over the last few years we have seen some great advances in the technology of compact cameras, and with them becoming affordable we are seeing more and more divers on dive site with their own cameras eager and keen to get some great photos.

Cirkewwa offers good parking and easy access making it an interesting site for the professional and amature photographers amongst us.

For those who loves wrecks and the life they attract there is the Rozi possibly one of the most dived wrecks in Malta and the P29 a 51m long minesweeper.

To the right you have the Arch that always has one or two Barracuda swimming around, and if your lucky enough to find them there is a huge school of 200 plus swimming around there.

Of course if you look close enough there are some great opportunities for those who like me love macro photography.

Hermit crabs, nudibranchs,feathers stars and if your really lucky seahorses.

These are just a few of the dives that Cirkewwa offers, so if you want to discover the wonders of Cirkewwa then come to Malta, bring your cameras and snap away.

Cirkewwa

   CIRKEWWA OFFERS A RICH AND DIVERSE RANGE OF MARINE LIFE, YOUR CO-OPERATION IN PROTECTING THIS AREA FOR FUTURE ENJOYMENT WOULD BE EXTREMELY VALUABLE.

PLEASE ADOPT RESPONSIBLE DIVE PRACTICES TO AVOID DAMAGING MARINE LIFE BY:

* Ensuring that you... are in good control of your buoyancy at all times, and avoid using rocks as ballast as they are living reefs
* Avoid excessive finning in close proximity to the reef as it can dislodge and damage life.
* Keep your equipment secured and streamlined

PLEASE ADOPT A RESPECTFUL AND PASSIVE APPROACH TO MARINE LIFE:

* Do not harass flora or fauna
* Do not collect souvenirs (dead or alive)
* Whenever possible avoid swimming under overhangs as bubbles can damage delicate coral growth, including star corals (Astroides calycularis) which are a protected species.
* Avoid entering areas of wrecks where squid eggs hang as bad buoyancy or bubbles can dislodge these
* Do not remove octopus from their dens as they may be protecting eggs
* When swimming over sand take care to not stir up the environment as sand are living habitats
* Dive boats should try to not anchor too close to wrecks as they may damage unique sea grass beds, or on Posidonia Meadows as they are akeystone species in housing ecosystems and are also a protected species.
* Do not damage urchins, as the rock sea urchin and the Needle-Spined Urchin (Cetrostephanus longispinus) are protected species
* Do not spearfish, especially with aqua lung as it is illegal
* Do not leave any litter in the sea or surrounding area, please use bins provided
We will also be asking MEPA, the TRANSPORT AUTHORITY, FISHERIES to do there part and ensure that the police presence at the Cirkewwa terminal, roster in regular foot patrols as a deterrent to illegal fishing.

CIRKEWWA V VOLUNTARY MARINE RESERVE.

For the past 25 years the amateur and professional Diving Community of Malta, including the 60,000 diving tourists annually, have been writing and arguing in favor of declaring this gem of Biodiversity to be protected and declared a marine sanctuary.

Since joining the EU Cirkewwa has become a defacto area of conservation by way of a law prohibiting some types of fishing around wrecks.

Despite of this, divers have to resort to calling in the police Administrative Law Enforcement(ALE) branch, to deal with infringements almost on a daily basis. Infringements also happen at night.

Spearfishing and the laying of parritii, (trammel nets) are but two of the infringement.
Last year a family of three spent a week at Cirkewwa clearing all the sea urchins they could get to.

This is not only an ecological disaster, but an infringement as sea urchins have a level of protection.

After meeting with the relevant Government departments and realized that there is a general consensus that Cirkewwa be protected, but that this may take a couple of years due to EU protocol, we decided that we need to take steps to have some autonomous form of protection.

The approach we have taken is that of launching Cirkewwa as a Voluntary Marine Reserve.

To do this we have already gotten the support of the various local diving Clubs as well as the Professional Diving Schools Association (PDSA), and Nature Trust Malta continued support.

We are now ready to embark on an outreach program to contact various other users, like the fishing and angling community, boat users and others that have an indirect interest of protecting this site like restaurants and hotels.

We will be collaborating with various users on the drafting out of a CODE OF PRACTICE for the various groups, as we have done for the diving community.

The aim of the group will still be that we eventually Cirkewwa be declared a Marine Sanctuary, but feel that if the VMR works than this would become either redundant or receive the unconditional support of all users.

Meanwhile there is still the problem of the ongoing irregularities.

The laying of Paritii still goes on as does the spearfishing.

In view of this, and understanding that it may be costly for the Government to have ALE personnel on site 24/7, we ask that a compromise be made and that the police officers already on duty at the Cirkewwa ferry terminal take regular foot patrols along the 300M coastline which constitutes the dive site.

This would only take a short 10mins casual walk there and back.

We are still asking that the penalties regarding the infringement to the laws, be increased to reflect the cost of prosecution