12 datasets misjub

The Council Regulation (EC) No 1967/2006 of 21 December 2006 - Chapter X, Article 26, establishes the 200m isobath within the 25 mile management zone. This regulation states that the fishing capacity of any trawlers authorised to operate at a depth of less than 200m must not exceed 185 kW; the isobath of 200 metres of depth shall be identified by a broken line, the waypoints of which are listed in Annex V, part (b) of the same regulation.

Article 17 of the Habitats Directive requires Member States to report every six years about the progress made with the implementation of the Habitats Directive. As the main focus of the directive is on maintaining and/or restoring a favourable conservation status for habitat types & species of community interest, monitoring & reporting under the directive is focusing on that. Monitoring of conservation status is not restricted to Natura 2000 sites and data need to be collected both in and outside the Natura 2000 network to achieve a full appreciation of conservation status. Some data on sensitive species is restricted from public access, as the disclosure of such might adversely affect the conservation of the species in question; this is in line with the provisions of Article 4 2(h) of Directive 2003/4/EC.

The original data was provided by CSD in WGS 84 and subsequently transformed by ERA into ETRS89TM33. ERA has processed the data for reporting obligations emanating under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. The water column boundary for MSFD purposes shall be taken as a boundary which extends to 25 nm without prejudice to Malta's jurisdiction beyond this limit. This incorporates the WFD Coastal Waters.

In December 2015, DFA gathered first hand data from diving schools in Malta and Gozo on the location of submerged and partially submerged marine caves along the coastline of the Maltese Islands, as part of the LIFE+ Benthic Habitat Research for Marine Natura 2000 Site Designation (LIFE BaĦAR for N2K) purpose of the project. This data was funded by of one of the co-financed EU LIFE+ Funding Programmes - LIFE BaĦAR for N2K project.

This dataset consists of the Maltese Islands maritime boundary of 25 nautical miles, which represents the outer limit of the coverage of the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED).

This dataset consists of part of the Strategic Proposals and Marine Objectives as published in the Strategic Plan for the Environment and Development (SPED). It shows the locations of Spoil Ground, Bunkering areas and Aquaculture zones.

Indicative areas used for anchoring and mooring of vessels around the Maltese islands. The data was used in the assessment of MSFD descriptor D6C2 (physical disturbance to the seabed)

The Veterinary Regulation and Fisheries Conservation and Control within the VAFD has set a number of conservation areas around wrecks. These are considered as "NO STOPPING AREAS". Anchoring is allowed to divers' vessels only after pre-notification to the Valletta VTS. Masters of diving support vessels are to ensure that collisions at sea and international code of signals, are shown at all times. Furthermore, spear fishing and the use of fishing gear such as set bottom lines, trammel nets, gill nets and entangling nets, encircling nets, demersal pots and traps are prohibited in these areas. Only surface fishing is allowed including trolling lines (rixa) and angling for pelagic fish. (Other charts affected).This data was funded by of one of the co-financed EU LIFE+ Funding Programmes - LIFE BaĦAR for N2K project.

Regulations are in place to spatially manage offshore trawling efforts within the FMZ: trawling within the 25 nautical mile zone can, according to legislation, only take place at designated sites (detailed in Annex Va of EC 1967/2006 and as amended in 2012). These trawlable areas were chosen when Malta joined the EU in 2004, and were based on an FAO study on the location of areas suitable for trawling in Maltese waters carried out in 1976 / 1977 (Giudicelli, 1978). In addition trawling is only allowed within the FMZ by vessels not exceeding an overall length of 24 m, and the overall capacity of the trawlers allowed to fish in the zone can not exceed 4 800 kW. Moreover, the total fishing effort of all vessels is not allowed to exceed an overall engine power and tonnage of 83 000 kW and 4 035 GT respectively, and the fishing capacity of any single vessel with a license to operate at less than 200 m depth can not exceed 185 kW. This data was utilised by one of the co-financed EU LIFE+ Funding Programmes - LIFE BaĦAR for N2K project.

Positions of Coralligenous point data were extracted from the below three different scientific papers and merged into one dataset: 1) Taviani, M., Dimech, M., Mifsud, C., Freiwald, A., Harasewyech, M.G. and Oliveriom, M. (2009). Coralliophilinae (Gastropoda: Muricidae) associated with deep water coral banks in the Mediterranean. THE NAUTILUS 123(3):106-112.2)Schembri, P.J., Dimech, M., Camilleri, M., and Page, R.(2007). Living water Lophelia and Madrepora corals in Maltese waters (Strait of Sicily, Mediterranean Sea). Cah. Biol. Mar. 48: 77- 83. 3) Freiwald, A., Beuck, L., Ruggeberg, A., Taviani, M., and Hebbeln, D. (2009). The White coral community in the Central Mediterranean Sea revealed by ROV surveys. Oceanography Vol 22, No1. This data was utilised by one of the co-financed EU LIFE+ Funding Programmes - LIFE BaĦAR for N2K project.

Location of standing waters

Location of transitional waters in the Maltese islands