Need not forgetting our White Gold pans at Marsascala

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1 Need not forgetting our White Gold pans at Marsascala Walking along Marsascala coast line towards St. Thomas Bay in Malta, one immediately spots huge rectangular rock-cut basins which arouse lots of curiosity in non-mediterranean tourists visiting our country. In Malta we call them Salini an Italian word referring to salt-pans, into which we pump sea water for salt production. The salt-pans of Marsascala date probably back to Roman times and they need continuous protection, restoration and conservation. Mr Zaren Darmanin is in charge of only one patch area of these Marsascala salt-pans and on consulting him he said: It s a pity that most of our Marsascala salt-pans got abandoned and authorities should do something to rehabilitate them as they can produce lots of good genuine salt. Salt production in Malta reached its peak during the Knights period as our local population increased. Afraid also of an Ottoman Turkish siege limiting our amount of fresh food stuff, the production of salt in Malta became more important as it helped in preserving food for a long period of time. Salt was also needed for the processing of leather in Malta as it surely helps in the drying process and prevents leather from decomposing. So there were times and situations in Malta when salt was produced and sold in high amounts. On consulting the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority (MEPA) I got to know that, large scale production of salt in Malta started 1

2 around the mid-nineteenth century through the construction of the large capacity Salina Bay evaporating salt pans. Salt production reached the peak around 1867 with around 75% of the salt produced being exported. Unfortunately when in 1979 a harsh storm damaged badly the Salina Bay salt-pans, salt production in Malta declined drastically. Salt plays an important role in our daily life diet as it helps our body in water retention, muscle contraction, and contains nutrients that are vital to our stomach. A moderate amount of salt everyday keeps our body metabolism healthy but the amount of salt that we can take daily should not exceed the range from 2,400-3,000 mg/day. Though people can use various methods to produce salt, in Malta (like other Mediterranean countries) we adopt the solar salt method to produce most of our local salt. This method surely distinguishes the flavour of salt made in salt marshes (relying on a natural process) from the one made in salt-pans (involving 2

3 workers in almost all stages of production) as is the case of the Darmanin family at the salt-pans in Marsascala. Mr Zaren Darmanin is probably one of the few remaining people in Malta who still collects salt manually. Interviewing Mr Darmanin, I realized what a hard job is that of salt labourer as salt is generally collected during the hottest hours of our Maltese harsh summer days. In fact Zaren said: I need to collect salt during the hottest hours of the day as that is the ripe time for evaporation to occur. Salt is mostly collected in the summer season starting from July till September but this time Mr Darmanin kept on working till the month of October because the first autumn rain came late. Rain surely affects the production and flavour of salt as salt-pans get overflowed with fresh rain water replacing the natural seawater which enriches our Mediterranean salt flavour. Mr Darmanin stated that in summer it takes him about 6 days to produce good salt while in winter it takes longer because of lower temperatures. Keeping his small patch area of salt-pans in good condition is not easy for Mr Darmanin and his family as this entails lots of hard work in both restoration and conservation. In one of my interviews, Zaren expressed his deep concern regarding the future of his wok saying: My concern is that this work at the salt-pans ends up with me unless my son takes over. 3

4 Regular cleaning of the salt-pans from growing sea algae is needed together with other restoration work to keep the salt-pans adequately deep for salt production to occur through evaporation. On consulting the Malta Environmental and Planning Authority (MEPA) I got to know that presently maintenance works are carried out on the large capacity Salina Bay evaporating salt-pans. So why not consider restoration and cleaning work on the existing abandoned small scale coastal salt-pan facilities at Marsascala? Meanwhile, Marsascala salt-pans remain under constant threat from the ferocity of the sea and the storms which from time to time ravage the Marsascala Coast. Mr Darmanin and his family do their very best to assure regular restoration and conservation of their small patch salt-pans but the other abandoned coastal salt-pans of Marsascala need the help of our local authorities to ensure a good conservation project. A cohesive integrated management plan is needed to conserve the ecological integrity of the Marsascala salt-pans. More statutory and sanitary protection is needed to guarantee less disturbance and less pollution threats to these salt-pans. More environment signs and education is needed to make local people and visitors aware of the importance of such local sites. Financial help is needed to keep most of the abandoned salt-pans of Marsascala free from invasive exotic plant species and alien vegetation ensuring a good 4

5 production of salt locally. Publicity of our local genuine salt product is highly recommended to support our local market from being threatened by the import of less genuine and cheaper salt products. I tasted Mr Darmanin s salt samples and like many tourists I can say that our local Mediterranean salt is irreplaceable and worth protecting and conserving. 5