A heavy-duty, tracked mechanical shovel normally used for construction was sent by the Gozo Ministry last week without a permit to the postcard-perfect Hondoq ir-Rummien beach to illegally clear anything in its way including Posidonia and other flora and fauna.

Ironically, the ‘clean-up’ was undertaken ahead of a visit by Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri the next day, where he celebrated World Turtle Day with Gozitan primary schoolchildren.

The beach is known for turtle nesting, which is presumably why the minister chose it for his environmental lecture. Turtle nesting season generally starts in late May and lasts until around the end of July or the beginning of August. World Turtle Day and the minister’s visit were held on 23 May.

Onlookers onsite when the excavator began indiscriminately clearing whatever happened to be on its way expressed their shock to The Shift that such a sensitive environmental operation was manned solely by a mechanical shovel operator who dumped everything he collected right into the sea.

“When we saw what was happening, we just couldn’t believe our eyes,” one eyewitness said. “The heavy machinery just appeared on the beach and pushed away whatever was in front of it. Everything was dumped into the sea and the water quickly turned murky with all the debris,” a 35-year-old man who witnessed the operation said.

Even better than the real thing? Turtle soft toys Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri gave the children during his visit.

“The operation didn’t take long and the driver seemed to be in a hurry,” another onlooker told The Shift. “No attention was paid to what was being cleared and it was all done in a matter of a few minutes. It was like it was clearing debris in a quarry.”

The Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) – which issues permits before such operations and monitors their implementation – has so far refrained from stating whether the Gozo Ministry had a permit for the operation or whether it is investigating the case.

According to the ERA’s own Operating Procedures on Beach Cleaning, mechanical shovels with tracks are completely banned from being used for beach clean-ups such as that ordered by the Gozo Ministry.

An extract from the ERA’s rules showing what happened at Hondoq was illegal.

Apart from a permit being necessitated, clean-ups in sensitive beach areas are only permitted to be carried out manually or with as little intervention as possible by mechanical tools on rubber tyres.

Just a day after the  obliteration of whatever organisms happened to be on the Hondoq beach, Minister Camilleri descended upon the newly-cleaned sand with schoolchildren.

Minister Clint Camilleri teaching children about the environment a day after having Hondoq beach illegally cleaned for his visit.

According to social media posts uploaded by the minister himself, Camilleri lectured students on making sure the beach is protected as much as possible so that all living creatures can continue to flourish.

The Gozo Ministry has not replied to questions on whether it sought a permit before ordering the clean-up.