Regulator unable to monitor turtle dove quota, BirdLife says

BirdLife Malta has said it received information the digital game reporting system used by hunters to record their catch is not functioning properly.

The NGO said the situation is leading to genuine hunters “unable or unwilling” to record their turtle-dove catch.

“In the past weeks BirdLife Malta received information even from a few genuine hunters that the system adopted by WBRU is not working and that when they tried to log in their catches they couldn’t get through,” it said.

On Thursday, BirdLife said that under-declaring catches and a lack of control on quotas has led them to believe the spring hunting quota has already been exceeded.

It based its claims on the migrating numbers of turtle doves and the intensity of hunting activity witnessed since the opening of the season. The spring hunting season ends on 30 April, or before if the bag limits for the huntable birds is reached earlier.

“A limit of 1,500 Turtle-doves is currently in place for a season spanning from the 17th to the 30th April for over 8,000 licensed hunters, and if such a hunting bag limit is reached earlier than the 30th April, as we believe it was, the season on Turtle-dove would be declared closed,” it said.

The NGO said informants notified it about the faulty recording system. BirdLife said they substantiated their claims with comments within hunting lobby groups, including screenshots which BirdLife Malta is now sharing with the media.

“BirdLife Malta has to point out that even if WBRU had to monitor the hunting season, it can never mitigate the under-declarations made by a hunting community which is motivated to do so, and that it should clearly admit that it is not capable of having the real picture on the amounts of Turtle-doves killed on the Maltese Islands,” the NGO said.

BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana said the situation is “nothing but a farce”.

“This is a serious matter and WBRU has failed in its commitment to safeguard this derogation making it not just illegal – because it targets a bird with a Vulnerable status – but also because there is no strict control. We have lost faith in convincing the Government to do the right thing and are expecting the European Commission to challenge this breach of the EU Birds Directive with urgency,” Sultana said.