Adi Associates Environmental Consultants Ltd

Client: Ministry for Gozo

Start / Finish Dates:  April 2006 – June 2009

The project involved the scuttling of two former tourist / pleasure vessels off Gozo’s southern coast.  An Environmental Planning Statement (EPS) was prepared and, together with describing the coastal and marine uses in the area, included:

• a description of the benthic communities, the sediment characteristics and the bathymetry of the site, and an assessment of the impacts of the project on them and on marine species;
• a description of archaeological artefacts and deposits encountered or known in the area, and an assessment of how they might be affected by the project;
• an Environmental Monitoring Plan, which focused on the potential negative impacts of the project and those impacts that were uncertain.  The Plan stipulated the need for marine and archaeological environmental monitoring, and frequent visual inspections of the wrecks.

The two vessels were scuttled in August 2006.

Following the scuttling, an Environmental Management Plan that included a monitoring programme was formulated. The Management Plan addressed: archaeology; habitats and species; and pollution. A diver risk assessment was also conducted.

Keywords: Environmental Impact Assessment, Environmental Management Plan, Environmental Monitoring Plan, wreck scuttling