February hunting allowed under new rules

New regulations for hunting and trapping will make it possible for song bird trappers to practise their hobby during February, a practice which until now is banned by law.

Regulations also provide for an amnesty to owners of stuffed protected birds who register them, and the lifting of shotgun confiscation for first-time offenders.

The regulations published in the Government Gazette on Friday also provide for the establishment of a committee, the Ornis Committee, comprising representatives of hunters and trappers' associations and bird protection organisations.

The committee would decide which policies and conditions should be adopted for the issuing of new licences for hunting and trapping, and draw up policies to enforce hunting and trapping regulations.

According to the regulations the trapping season would be open between September 1 and January 31 for turtle dove, quail, golden plover and song thrush; between March 25 and May 2 for turtle dove and quail; and between October 1 and April 10 for chaffinch, serin, greenfinch, goldfinch, siskin, linnet and hawfinch.

The regulations stipulate that the hunting season on land remain the same and the birds which can be shot at are turtle doves and quail in spring when these species migrate. The names of the 32 species that can be hunted in autumn remain the same.

No changes were made for hunting three miles off the coast at sea. But a measure introduced by the regulations sets the velocity of the seacraft used for hunting at a maximum of 18 kilometres an hour.

An addition to the list of birds that can be hunted at sea is the red-breasted merganser, currently listed with species that can be hunted on land when in fact it is hunted at sea.

Anyone registered as a trapper as at the end of July 2002 would have his licence renewed, but no licences would be issued to applicants after that date or to those who apply for a new licence for trapping before the Ornis Committee concludes its study on trapping. The study has to be completed by the end of December 2007.

The currently used Carnet de Chasse, the permit which is effectively also the document in which hunters and trappers record details of catches, will also have to include the whereabouts of trappers' sites. The regulations point out that this does not register the site.

Regulations stipulate that hunters and trappers who fail to have their identity card or the permit (the carnet de chasse) in their possession while hunting or trapping, would have 48 hours, instead of 24, to present them to the police.

According to the regulations, anyone keeping stuffed birds will be able to register an application with the Director for Environmental Protection for an official permit that would also include an inventory of stuffed birds. The certificate will be issued only after the statements made by hunters about the species and the numbers are verified.

No action would be taken against those who register their stuffed birds by the time stipulated by the Minister concerned.

The regulations also classify infringements in two categories - serious crimes and "other" crimes.

Serious crimes include:

¤ hunting at sea within the threemile limit;
¤ hunting or trapping that disturbed nests, the parents and their young;
¤ hunting or injuring a bird or wild rabbit in a bird sanctuary;
¤ being in possession of a bird or wild rabbit - alive or dead - in a bird sanctuary;
¤ being in possession of hunting and trapping equipment in a bird sanctuary; and
¤ breaching regulations concerning species with special protection (the list of such birds is to be drawn up by the Ornis Committee).

The maximum penalty for these crimes is to be raised from Lm500 to Lm1,000 for first-time offenders and from Lm1,000 to Lm2,000 for others. The provisions in the current regulations on confiscation of the shotgun, the possibility of licence suspension, and of a prison sentence remain unchanged.

For other infringements that are not considered serious, the provision for shotgun confiscation has been removed.

The fines for these infringements remain unchanged, that is between Lm50 and Lm500 for first-time offenders and between Lm100 and Lm1,000 for repeaters. Repeat offenders also face possible shotgun confiscation and/or the suspension of the licence or permit for at least a year as the situation was for these cases before the new regulations were issued.