These pictures were sent to The Malta Independent by readers this morning - all showing what seems like foam in the sea is in St Julian's, Marsascala and Sliema.

The pictures above and below show how the blue seas in St Julian’s Bay, a place frequented by hundreds of swimmers each day, starting from the Exiles area and going all the way round the coast to San Giljan pitch, have been affected.

The evidence of this is seen by the strip of white foam that snakes all through the bay in St Julian's and accumalted across the coast in other areas on the east side of Malta.

This raises some questions: what is happening to our blue seas? Why are we allowing this pollution to spoil our patrimony? What is being done to curb such environmental hazard? Is it safe to swim in these waters?

Other pictures were later sent to us from Marsascala and Sliema, with the same issue being brought up.

In a statement in the afternoon, the Environment and Resources Authority said that some months ago it commissioned an investigation. "The occurrence of this lasting foam has been observed elsewhere in the Mediterranean and is linked to natural phenomena including sea conditions, coupled with bio-agents." 

ERA said it is in contact with other national authorities about this phenomenon. Investigations are still underway and ERA "is not in a position to comment any further until conclusive results that provide more information on this occurrence are available".