Origins & History
Salt pans (għejun tal-melħ in Maltese) have been used in Malta since at least Roman times. Their main purpose is the traditional harvesting of sea salt, by channelling seawater into carved pools where it evaporates under the sun.
Construction & Process
Cut directly into the coastal limestone. Pools are of varying sizes: shallow pans for fast evaporation, deeper ones for storage. Harvesting usually takes place in the summer months (June–August).
Cultural Importance
Today, the most striking examples in Malta can be seen at Salina Bay, Marsaskala, and St Paul’s Bay. Some are still actively worked, with local families using centuries-old techniques: channelling seawater, maintaining the pans, and hand-collecting the crystals. Beyond their historic and economic importance, the salt pans are valued as cultural landscapes and ecological sites, attracting visitors for their geometric beauty, heritage, and role in sustaining coastal biodiversity. They remain a living testament to Maltese ingenuity in adapting natural resources for survival. Today, they are also a tourist attraction in addition to production sites.
Full inventory — Malta (named salt-pan sites / clusters
| Number | Site name (common variants) | Approx. coordinates (lat, lon) | Degree of activity | SShort notes |
| 1 | Is-Salina / Salina Bay (Burmarrad / Salini) | 35.9456, 14.4244 | Part-active / protected | Malta’s largest engineered salt-works; now a nature reserve and heritage site. |
| 2 | Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq | 35.9386, 14.4542 | Historic / remnant / partly recorded | Case study in ktieb; historic pans mapped along the northern coast. |
| 3 | Baħrija (coastal pans / Għajn Tuffieħa vicinity) | 35.8947, 14.3483 | Historic / remnant | Named and surveyed in the ktieb inventory. |
| 3 | Delimara Salt Pans (coastal pans ) | 35.819401, 14.559496 | Historic / remnant | Named. |
| 4 | Qammieħ / Ras il-Qammieħ (Mellieħa / Marfa coast) | 35.9736, 14.3292 | Historic / remnant | Small coastal pockets recorded in fieldwork (Marfa / Qammieħ complex). |
| 5 | Marfa / Marfa Point (Għadira / Mellieħa coast) | 35.9872, 14.3264 | Historic / remnant | Marfa ridge / point includes historic pan traces and map references. |
| 6 | Ċirkewwa / Qawra Point (northern tip clusters) | 35.9704, 14.3386 | Historic / remnant (some intertidal pans) | Ċirkewwa / Qawra coastal pans and shore platform channels documented in the ktieb study. |
| 7 | Selmun (Selmun / Red Tower area) | 35.9592, 14.3815 | Historic / remnant | Selmun salt pan localities recorded in chapter on Malta sites. |
| 8 | Buġibba coastal pans | 35.9491, 14.4158 | Historic / partly visible | Buġibba pans (possibly Punic/Roman origins) discussed in literature and the ktieb study. |
| 9 | St Paul’s Islands (nearby pan features / small rock pans) | 35.921, 14.366 (approx) | Historic / remnant | Small pans and rock pits recorded around St Paul’s Islands (surveyed in ktieb). |
| 10 | Fond Għadir / Sliema-Fort Tigné (small historic pans / engineered flats) | 35.901, 14.515 (approx) | Historic / remnant | Historic tidal / engineered pans around the greater Sliema/St Julian’s area noted in the study. |
| 11 | St Elmo / Valletta (historic small pans, fort-related reservoirs) | 35.8986, 14.5146 | Historic / remnant | St Elmo and small engineered pans/works are recorded historically (ktieb). |
| 12 | Xrobb l-Għaġin / Delimara (south-east peninsula) | 35.8438, 14.5685 | Part-active / formerly industrial | Large modernised pans and historic rock pans on Delimara / Xrobb l-Għaġin peninsula; industrialisation in 20th c. documented. |
| 13 | Marsaxlokk (Kalanka / Marsaxlokk Bay pans) | 35.8418, 14.5431 | Historic / partly active | Historically one of the largest salt-work areas (19th c.); remnant pans and flats remain. |
| 14 | Marsaskala / Zonqor Point (south-east coast pans) | 35.8622, 14.5670 | Part-active / remnant pockets | Several pockets and rock pans along Marsaskala / Zonqor mapped in ktieb and wetland records. |
| 15 | Marsaskala / Triq is-Salini | 35.863450, 14.571687 | Part-active | Several pockets and rock pans along Marsaskala Triq is-Salini approx 350 metres in length. |
| 16 | Wied iż-Żurrieq / Blue Grotto area (Qrendi / south coast pockets) | 35.8280, 14.4180 | Historic / remnant | Round pits and small rock-cut pans are concentrated on Malta’s southern shores (chapter 9). |
| 17 | Qrendi / Ħaġar Qim adjacent pans | 35.821, 14.410 (approx) | Historic / remnant | Southern coastal clusters and historical round pits recorded. |
| 18 | Ras il-Fenek / Dingli cliffs (west coast pockets) | 35.8590, 14.3770 | Historic / remnant | Small cliff-edge pans and channels recorded in the ktieb field survey. |
| 19 | Għallis / Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq coastal strip (Salina → Għallis stretch) | 35.945, 14.420 (approx) | Part-active / heritage | Multiple named toponyms and historic pans across the north-central coast included in maps and field data. |
| 20 | Birżebbuġa’s Salt Pans | 35.821937, 14.530108 | Part-active | A striking grid of rock-cut basins along the coast near Birżebbuġa. |
| 21 | Misc. small pockets (multiple unnamed shore-platform pits around Malta’s coast) | various (see ktieb maps) | Historic / remnant / scattered | The ktieb inventory documents many small unnamed rock-hewn pans and round pits along the entire Maltese coastline — these are listed and mapped in the study (chapter 4 & 9). |