BirdLife dubs regulation unit’s proposal for autumn bird trapping ‘inside job by FKNK’, government denies

Representatives of BirdLife Malta sitting on the Ornis Committee withdrew from discussions this afternoon after presenting their concerns to committee members and chairperson, Louis Cassar.

During this afternoon's meeting, the Wild Bird Regulations Unit's put forward its proposal for a derogation to allow the autumn trapping of song thrush and golden plover.

On the agenda was also the discussion on hunters' federation FKNK proposal to also allow finch trapping, a report co-authored by Joseph Lia - WBRU's special initiatives offer.

Until July, Lia was also listed as the FKNK's council member for live-bird trapping affairs.

In a statement, Bird Life said the WBRU's proposal for song thrush and golden plover trapping was "an inside job by the FKNK". 

Nicholas Barbara, BirdLife Malta's Conservation Manager, raised the organisation's objection to the committee's chairperson over the presentation of the proposal by former Lia in his capacity as special initiatives officer at the WBRU.

Barbara described Lia's position as being, "too compromised to be credible".

"To call this a mere conflict of interest does not do justice to the seriousness of the compromised impartiality of the WBRU. It seems that the pre-election deal negotiated by the FKNK has given them their own governmental body with which to implement their proposals on hunting and trapping," he said.

BirdLife had already criticised the political appointment of staff to the new unit, which has been formed as a one-stop-shop on hunting and trapping issues, questioning the secondment of the unit's acting head, Sergei Golovkin, along with that of Lia and former Labour MP and adviser on hunting and trapping, Bertu Pace.

Meanwhile, the government issued a statement to deny BirdLife's allegations which it said was "incorrect since the proposal for the potential application of a live-capturing derogation for Golden Plover and Song Thrush has been made by the FKNK and not by the Government."
 
"At today's Ornis Committee meeting, the Government, through the Wild Birds Regulation Unit has presented a technical assessment of FKNK's proposal for consideration by the Ornis Committee. The aim of the technical assessment is to provide objective analysis of the outcome of the 2012 derogation, as well as to provide an overview of the scientific, legal and technical considerations in order to inform discussion at the Committee. This was the practice adopted in the past, prior to the application of similar derogations every year since 2007."
 
The analysis has been prepared by technical staff of the Unit with inputs from the Malta Environment and Planning Authority as well as from the Police, the statement said.
 
"Unfortunately Birdlife (Malta) has chosen to walk out of the Committee meeting on the grounds of objecting to the presence of one of the Unit's employees who was, prior to his secondment with the Unit, a member of FKNK Council. For the sake of clarification, it should be noted that Mr. Joseph Lia, who has been seconded with the Unit from the Ministry of Health has now resigned his role within the FKNK's Council and there is no conflict of interest arising out of his role within the new Unit."
 
The government deplored the "unethical and discriminatory" stand adopted by BirdLife, "which has chosen to discriminate against a public sector employee on the grounds of his legitimate past affiliation with a voluntary organisation."
 
It also pointed out that thousands of government employees are also members of legitimate NGOs, as it is their right, whilst some government employees have even been seconded to assist various NGOs, including BirdLife.