An Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) was compiled by Ais Environmental Ltd. to describe the major benthic habitats and communities in areas where construction will take place and to assess the environmental impacts and risks of the proposed development on marine ecology.

Furthermore, Ais Environmental had to design mitigation measures, identify residual impacts and recommend a monitoring programme.

Marine surveys around Filfla, an islet off the west coast of Malta, are the first of their kind to be carried out in Malta.

The main aim of the project was to obtain rigorous scientific data in order to enable identification of marine habitats, habitat types and species for eventual protection measures to be drawn up and which will be necessary for the future designation of the area as a special marine protected area or as a marine Special Area of Conservation as stipulated by the Habitats Directive.

The project for the conservation of Filfla, which was funded under the structural Funds Programme for Malta 2004-2006, was divided into three separate parts; these included the collection of information and preparatory work, undertaking marine surveys (acoustic, video sampling, grab sampling and diving) and the preparation of a zoning plan, management and monitoring plan for the area.