Name of Site: Żona fil-Baħar fl-inħawi tal-Graben tat-Tramuntana ta’ Għawdex
Site Code: MT0000115
Year of designation: 2018
Area [ha]: 39026.05
Annex 1 Protected Habitats:
- 1170 Reefs
- 8330 Submerged or partially submerged sea caves
Annex II protected species:
Caretta caretta
Tursiops truncatus
Importance:
The site hosts a concentration of Caretta caretta population as identified by the LIFE Migrate project (LIFE11 NAT/MT1070). Reef assemblages present along escarpments and associated with the fossil lithistid reef in Offshore Area IV are characterised by a variety of sessile cnidarians and sponges, but no single species is dominant.The information on reefs was gathered through
the LIFE BaĦAR for N2K project (LIFE12 NAT/MT/000845). An extensive area of this site was initially proposed as an SCI in 2016 (MT0000106), together with an SPA; following an extension in 2018 of the SCI (confirmed in 2017), MT0000106 was retained as an SPA, while the SCI with the extended area given the MT0000106 was retained as an SPA, while the SCI with the extended area given the site code MT0000115.