Blue flag day held at St George’s bay St Julians

The 8th of August saw the Malta Tourism Authority and various stakeholders, present at St George’s Bay, St Julian’s, to take part in the second Blue Flag Day.

The aim of such a day is to educate the public as to what the Blue Flag stands for – a sign of a beach, that conforms to EU regulations in various aspects, from water quality, to attractive, safe environs and environmental awareness and care.

Various activities took place with the participation of Waste Serve Malta, who gave a presentation on waste separation, the Malta Maritime Authority who spoke about safety at sea, Nature Trust who demonstrated how to assist a stranded dolphin, and a life saving demonstration by “Socjeta Nazzjonali tas-Salvatagg”

Mr Josef Formosa Gauci, CEO of the MTA, was presented with the Blue Flag Certificates for both St George’s Bay and the perched beach in Qawra, by Blue Flag International, represented in Malta by Nature Trust. In a brief address on the occasion, Mr Formosa Gauci,emphasised that it is essential for the public to be aware of the importance of good quality clean beaches, as part of Malta’s tourism product. He therefore made an appeal to the public “to take care of what we have and to leave the bays in a clean state, so that they can be by locals and tourists alike, in a way that has minimum impact on the environment”.

To achieve Blue Flag status a bay must comply with various criteria and is judged on such, first by a national jury and than an international one. The criteria for Blue Flag beaches are that they have to have an informative and educational aspect and conform to environmental management practices, such as waste separation and environmental protection. The final key criterion is water quality, which has to be sampled and tested every 17 days. The Malta Tourism Authority aims to introduce more bays to this accreditation in the coming years.