Trapping season opened with 6,000 bag limit, BirdLife accuses parties of selling out

The government today published two legal notices establishing rules within which the derogation from the EU ban on trapping of golden plover and song thrush will be applied.

The rules set the overall seasonal bag limits at 5,000 song thrush and 1,150 golden plover, and can be amended by government "by taking into consideration the conservation status of the two species concerned and the maintenance of the population of the species at a satisfactory level."

The rules also set a daily bag limit per licence of three birds and a seasonal bag limit per licence of six birds.

Registered trappers will be issued with carnets de chasse, and their trapping sites registered with the police. Clap-nets will have sizes of not less than 30mm-square mesh size.

No trapping shall be allowed on garigue within Natura 2000 sites. The season will run for 83 days between the months of October 2012 and January 2013.

BirdLife Malta today slammed the government and the opposition for "vying for hunters' votes" and disregarding the "overwhelming majority's disagreement with the ongoing infringements from the EU nature laws

BirdLife said the government was considering another derogation to allow trapping for two species, Song Thrush and Golden Plover, in the current hunting season and also accused the Labour Party of reportedly courting the hunting lobby by considering relaxing hunting regulations to meet hunters' and trappers' demands.

The hunters' federation (FKNK) on Monday denied claims that it had brokered an agreement with Labour on future hunting laws, and said that it had held technical meetings with both the Labour Party and the PN, denying ever saying that Labour promised hunters that it will amend hunting legislation. In reference to an article published in yesterday's Sunday Times, the FKNK secretary-general Lino Farrugia said: "The article in both its factual content and in the corresponding implications is, in its most important aspects misleading, untrue and incorrect."

The article said that the Labour Party had promised hunters that it will "amend legislation regulating the spring and autumn hunting seasons as well as the number of birds which can be shot."

Trapping is banned in the EU and Malta has already received two formal warnings from the European Commission before the possibility of being taken to the European Court of Justice.

On its accession to the EU in 2004, Malta pledged to comply with the EU Birds Directive, which strictly limits the hunting of wild birds according to the conservation status of each species, this based on stringent scientific data about the population levels, trends and distribution. The Directive also specifically prohibits hunting in spring and bird trapping, due to the disproportionately high impact of these activities, which are extremely efficient means of reducing population levels.

The EU allowed Malta a 5-year grace period in which to phase out the practice of finch trapping after it joined the EU, however Malta has persisted in opening an autumn trapping season every year since 2009, which has served as a loophole to allow illegal trapping of finches and other protected species to continue.

"Both parties appear to be willing to sacrifice the environment as well as risking EU sanctions in their efforts to secure a majority in the forthcoming general elections," BirdLife president Joseph Mangion said.

"Malta's environmental protection featured high on the agenda prior to the last election. Yet, today the country has one of the worst environmental records in the EU with no vision for a sustainable future coming from either from the government or the opposition."

Trappers are obliged to report every bird caught by SMS, so that the season's quota is monitored in real-time and terminated if the overall seasonal quota for either one or both of the species is reached at any time before the end of the season.

No more than 10 birds of thrush and plover can be used as decoys.

The environment ministry said police will ensure monitoring and compliance, and a minimum of seven marshals for every thousand licences issued. Officers shall continue to carry out on-the-spot checks until at least two weeks following the end of the trapping season to prevent illegal capture.

Any person who fails to comply with any provision of these Regulations, with the Licence conditions or with any order lawfully given in terms of any provision of these Regulations, shall be guilty of an offence and shall upon conviction be liable to the penalties established by regulation 27 of the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations. The penalties range from confiscation of equipment and fines, to revocation of license and even imprisonment, depending on the severity of the offence.

It should be noted that under EU and national law, trapping can only be allowed under strict conditions through a limited derogation from the Birds Directive. It is the duty of each and every individual trapper to comply and adhere vigorously with the law and with the conditions of a derogation. It is moreover in the interest of trapping associations and of individual trappers to ensure that no illegal trapping takes place at any point in time since this would otherwise jeopardise any possible future trapping and hunting derogations.