Unhappy hunters accuse OPM of ‘eliminating’ bird trapping

The hunters’ lobby FKNK (Federazzjoni Kaccaturi Nassaba Konservazzjonisti) has accused the Office of the Prime Minister of contempt towards its members, by not opening the trapping season on the eve of the date when trappers had paid this year’s licence since February.

FKNK secretary-general Lino Farrugia claimed the decision not to open the finch-trapping season for the coming autumn is in breach of Malta’s environment laws.

He accused the government of wanting to eliminate the “traditional and socio-cultural passion” of bird trapping, by not derogating from the Birds Directive, the EU law that bans bird trapping.

Malta stopped issuing new trapping licences in August 2007, before trapping had to stop according in 2008 unless there was a proper justification to derogate from the Birds Directive.

The FKNK said it was not true that trapping, or live-bird capturing, was banned by the Birds Directive. “Government announced the season for hunting from land and sea-craft for this year’s autumn and winter, but not the trapping season as normally done, notwithstanding having had the Ornis Committee’s recommendation to open the trapping season for the turtle dove, quail, song thrush and golden plover as usual.”

BirdLife Malta welcomed the decision, after the OPM acknowledged that there was not enough information to justify a future trapping season.

“The government has acted responsibly by not opening a season until the necessary justification is at hand. This will however take time and it is therefore highly unlikely that any trapping season could be opened this year,” Nicholas Barbara, BirdLife conservation and policy Officer and Ornis Committee member, said today.

The government’s decision comes after the European Commission last June challenged Malta’s autumn trapping season through a Letter of Formal Notice which started infringement proceedings against Malta.

The Commission took this action as trapping is not permitted under the EU Birds Directive and can only take place under a derogation. As exemptions to clauses in EU law, derogations can only be applied by member states in exceptional circumstances and subject to strict specific conditions.

The FKNK insisted that the application of a derogation from the Birds Directive to permit trapping for huntable species (turtle dove, quail, song thrush and golden plover) is unnecessary.

“We have often advised the authorities that a derogation need not be applied to permit trapping for otherwise legal, huntable species because it is up to the EU member state to decide upon the method, whether by shotgun or nets, used to permit the taking of species from the wild in autumn,” the lobby said.

Trapping and shooting of birds in Maltese law is referred to as ‘taking’ of wild birds.

The FKNK said the Birds Directive only prohibits the use of nets in trapping when they capture on a “large scale and non-selective” basis, or when such use can cause the disappearance of the local bird population.

The FKNK said these conditions were inexistent in the Maltese trapping practice, and said Brussels never objected to Malta derogating from the law to trap the four species.

“The government’s move is another somersault, contradicting what it said on 6 July 2011 when it claimed it would defend the trapping practices of these four species, and further nullifies its several promises and guarantees made to hunters and trappers over the years, because yet again another chunk of hunters’ and trappers’ legal rights are being eliminated.”