Bugibba Perched Beach – Awarded Blue Flag Certification

The Bugibba Perched Beach was selected as a good candidate for the Blue Flag management scheme. This means that the Beach must comply with a number of criteria designed to ensure that those beaches and marinas awarded the label are working towards sustainable development. The criteria address water quality, environmental education and information, environmental management and safety, and other services, and require maintained outstanding performance in these areas. Over 3,200 beaches and marinas from over 36 countries have been awarded the Blue Flag. The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), an international non-government organization (NGO) based in Denmark, is responsible for the Blue Flag Scheme and is represented in Malta by the local environmental NGO, Nature Trust Malta.

St George’s Bay in St Julian’s was the first beach in Malta to achieve Blue Flag recognition. The success of this Bay in achieving the Blue Flag, an eco-label for beaches and marinas, encouraged the Malta Tourism Authority to expand this standard of beach management to other beaches around the Maltese Islands.

The Development of the Bugibba Perched Beach

The Bugibba Perched Beach is located in the area known as Ix-Xtajta ta’ Bugibba in St Paul’s Bay, along Malta’s northeast coastline. The area is one of Malta’s most popular tourism zones.

The Bugibba Perched Beach is an innovative project, the likes of which has never before been attempted in Malta. The beach was created by developing a raised, reversible structure over rock and covering the area with sand, increasing the amount of space available for bathers. Before the beach was created, surveys were carried out to identify the marine ecology in the area and thereby determine whether covering of certain areas should be avoided.

The beach is separated from the sea by an acrylic concrete ridge, which minimises the potential for loss of sand from the beach. The beach itself is located inshore within the supralittoral zone (or splash zone, the area of shore that is wetted by sea spray and larger waves). Rainwater and overtopping sea water is drained from behind the ridge via drain pipes installed beneath the sand. Access to the sea is via walkways that lead from the beach directly to the sea. Stainless steel ladders facilitate exit and entry to the sea.

Given the success of the proven appropriateness of the sand used to replenish St George’s Bay, the same sand was used at the Bugibba Perched Beach. The sand was transported in large bags that were emptied onto the site and levelled out to create the beach.

The creation of the Bugibba Perched Beach included, as an important aspect, the general upgrade and improved amenity of the area. This included repairs to the promenade wall, resurfacing of the access road, remodelling of the access stairs and associated hand rails, and repairs to the boundary walls.

Moreover, the beach includes waste separation bins, toilets, an access ramp, landscaping, a beach manager’s room, and a lifeguard station. A kiosk serves beach users and sun bed and umbrella hiring facilities are provided.

The Perched Beach was created along a similar ethos to that operating at St George’s Bay, providing the same facilities, and aiming to improve Malta’s tourism product. With these similarities in mind, the Bugibba Perched Beach was the obvious next candidate for the Blue Flag.

The Marine Environment

The physical and biological features of the area surveyed are typical of the northeastern coast of the Maltese Islands. The rocky substratum of the lower supralittoral and mediolittoral zones (areas splashed by waves, but not submerged) has a heterogeneous topography and is very rugged. These features of the rocky substratum also extend into the infralittoral zone (mostly submerged), where the seabed is characterised by ridges, troughs, furrows, crests, and hollows. In many places, troughs and hollows are filled with small boulders, and with accumulations of cobbles and pebbles.

The biota recorded from the area surveyed was very diverse and typical of local gently-sloping shores and sublittoral (permanently submerged) bottoms. Protected species encountered on the site included the Mediterranean vermetid mollusc Dendropoma petraeum and the brown alga Cystoseira spp. Since the survey, the area has also seen an increase in the sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus, which though painful if stepped upon (and bathers should thread carefully on the rocks in this area), is an important grazer of the upper infralittoral zone.

More Information

For more information about Blue Flag, visit the Blue Flag Information Centre at St George’s Bay in St Julian’s. For more information about the Bugibba Perched Beach, visit the beach and ask the beach managers or lifeguards for leaflets. The beach managers and lifeguards are also trained in beach management in accordance with Blue Flag requirements, so visit the site and ask questions!