Updated | Bird conservationists rejoice after hunting enforcement unit head resigns

Updated at 6.30pm with Environment Ministry's statement

The government unit responsible for enforcing hunting regulations has lost its head after Sergei Golovkin resigned last week, just before the start of the spring hunting season.

It is unclear why Golovkin submitted his resignation but sources told MaltaToday the man had been complaining about interference in his work.

The news of his resignation was disseminated by the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) in a statement released on Monday.

The spring hunting season for quail started on Easter Sunday and is expected to last until 21 April.

Questions sent by this news portal on Golovkin's resignation to the Environment Ministry, which is responsible for the WBRU, have remained unanswered, almost a week after they were sent. MaltaToday did not yet have confirmation of Golovkin's resignation.

The resignation is believed to have come at a point when WBRU officials were stopped from addressing information meetings organised by St Hubert’s Hunters, the second largest hunting organisation.

The ministry has failed to say who stopped the WBRU officials from addressing the information meetings and it remains unclear whether this had anything to do with Golovkin’s resignation. Golovkin had approved the participation of WBRU officials in the information sessions.

St Hubert’s Hunters last week said that after meeting Environment Minister Jose Herrera, the WBRU officials will be allowed to address the information meetings, which have now been postponed by a few months.

However, Golovkin’s resignation was welcomed by CABS, which said that since Golovkin’s appointment at the helm of the WBRU, Malta’s hunting and trapping enforcement system became “a disaster”.

“The damage his actions and proposals have done to Malta’s ability to enforce its hunting regulations and comply with international conservation conventions and directives is unimaginable,” CABS president Heinz Schwarze said in statement.

Golovkin was appointed head in 2014, with CABS adding that all new rules and enforcement procedures introduced by him have led to a significant breakdown of enforcement.

CABS said that according to statistics from WBRU’s annual reports, the number of protected birds seized on Malta declined from several thousands per year to only one bird being confiscated last year.

“From 2011 to 2014 MEPA’s bird experts had identified and tagged around 8,000 stuffed birds in private collections to ensure that newly shot protected birds are not added to the collections or sold illegally. From 2015 to 2017 the number was zero. This shocking number means that in the past three years the trade and acquisition of stuffed birds has been completely unregulated,” Schwarze said. 
The organisation also criticised the changes to the reporting mechanism used by hunters to register shot birds, which was introduced in 2016. Reporting catches via the carnet de chasse paper was replaced by phone reports that proved to be a failure, Schwarze said.

CABS called on the government to use Golovkin’s resignation as an opportunity to re-establish a fully operational and effective system led by experienced ornithologists and lawmakers.

“Such a step should also include the return of responsibilities to the Environment and Resources Authority (ERA) which unlike WBRU has experienced and unbiased ornithologists on its payroll,” CABS said.

Ministry confirms resignation

In a short statement released on Monday evening, the Environment Ministry confirmed Golovkin's resignation and thanked him for his service.

"The government is committed in implementing effective measures with respect to conservation of wild birds through adequate funding of projects, holistic educational programmes and a rigorous enforcement structure," the ministry said, without elaborating.