Blame it on the hunters!

At present the trend to blame hunters for any local problem has become quite fashionable.

Recently we had Din l-Art Helwa's executive president advising the government to lessen its financial deficit by increasing sporting licence fees, with a clear innuendo that hunting is also to blame for this state of affairs.

We read (October 28) that the findings of a "comprehensive environmental survey" commissioned by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association (MHRA), focuses on hunters' practices as the reason behind the problems the local tourism industry is facing. This notwithstanding the fact that the environment, natural and otherwise, is such a vast subject.

The survey shows that "Hunting and trapping was 'noticed or experienced' by 34 per cent of all tourists... One in five of these says it had a negative impact". The survey does not report if for the other four the impact was positive. And, considering that the practices were "noticed or experienced" by just 34 per cent of visiting tourists, they must be regarded as insignificant, bearing in mind the tiny rural areas still available in our islands where hunting is still permissible.

All tourists to Malta hail from countries where hunting is widely practised and similarly popular. However, whereas for instance in the UK you get an average of three hunters per square kilometre of land where hunting is allowed, with an average of five for France and eight for Italy (the highest, not simply in Europe, but also in the whole world), in Malta we average 80 hunters!

The MHRA's president said that potentially over 1,400 jobs could be at risk and further commented that the awareness of hunting could actually have risen as a result of the Malta Tourism Authority's (MTA) countryside walks introduced last November.

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation - Malta (FKNK) can officially state that over 70 per cent of its members' livelihood, directly or indirectly, derives from incoming tourism and, as such, these would never dare risk their jobs while legally and rightfully practising their sport. The FKNK further hopes that this survey will not be indiscriminately used as an excuse to jeopardise such hunters' jobs.

As for MTA's countryside walks, the FKNK was very involved in their organisation and encouraged their introduction. However, the federation had also warned against the possible malicious "misuse" of the walks by anti-hunting organisations, as witnessed in the early 1990s, when a German tour operator, with the assistance of a few local "greens", used to "organise" similar country walks at the end of which previously prepared complaint letters about hunting were handed over to the walkers who, on their part, would just have to sign the letters and address them to the local authorities.

No, this latest attack on local traditions, through the use of tourism, is nothing new, it is simply a revived dirty trick. One can still vividly recall the infamous tale by another local compatriot, whose book was supplied to UK travel agents in a vain attempt to boycott tourism to Malta; and the invasion of MTA's stand by the German "greens" during the most important tourism fair held annually in Berlin, who attempted to distribute boycott leaflets.

Ironically, the years following these incidents proved to be some of the best years for the local incoming tourism industry and so we can only augur similar successes as a result of this latest attack, at a time when tourism is at one of its lowest ever ebbs.

A new tourism "expert", the president of BirdLife (Malta), could not resist aiding his mission to stick yet another sword in the hunters' side, when he referred to MHRA's survey as confirming the detrimental effect that hunting had on the tourism sector and that, while other Mediterranean destinations had controlled hunting, this was not the case for Malta.

Can this expert also blame hunting when in the month of August - when, not just legally, but also naturally, local hunting is not possible - tourist arrivals fell from the 1998's 166,643 to this year's 148,036 (National Office of Statistics official records)? Still again, can he blame lack of hunting regulations enforcement for the figures for January to August which stood at 814,366 in 1998 against 791,914 this year? BirdLife's president is very much aware that, to a large extent, less enforcement was in force in 1998 than at present and also very noticeably so through his personal involvement, so much so that of late he is beginning to sound more of an anti-hunters campaigner than a birds' protector.

Definitely, the terrible state of our roads, the country's level of cleanliness, mount Maghtab, the lack of adequate beaches, the poor and, in some instances, the degrading pitiful state of our cultural and heritage sites and the general shabbiness of the islands have contributed towards the decline in tourist arrivals. Consequently, one and all should stop using the local traditions of hunting and trapping as scapegoats and as excuses for their inefficiencies and any problem that may crop up from time to time.

The FKNK is well aware of the importance of tourism for the Maltese islands' economy and therefore sincerely believes that all tourism-related and interested partners, together, and genuinely, have to contribute by action and not words to arrest the present tourism downward trend and further work to regain the status the Maltese islands deserve from tourism at all levels.

And we do call a spade a spade. The FKNK has always acted diligently and in good faith in all its dealings, statements and involvement in all sectors of related activities over the years. We reiterate the metaphor that amputating an arm from the shoulder to heal a cut in one's finger can never be considered to be an equitable solution - hunting and illegal hunting are two separate and distinct issues that can never intertwine. If politics goes beyond all goodwill expressed by several quarters, then we, as an organisation defending legal and traditional hunting and trapping, can only do so much.

The FKNK has always and will always continue relentlessly to honour our commitment to our statute. If that calls for pointing fingers or issuing statements that could be interpreted in any way as personal or anti-someone or something, that is what we will do. Our agenda does not look at faces or colours, our agenda looks at facts and circumstances.

What we expect is a more mature and effective response from certain quarters which would otherwise only be hiding their head in the sand. We reaffirm our commitment to assist in any issue where we could be effective in achieving common goals. But such commitment cannot be one-sided without the necessary cooperation, for whatever excuse it may be, that needs to come from people who take decisions. Good faith and long-term achievements are our targets, and, as is the case not only in Europe but globally, hunting co-exists as a matter of fact within an ever-evolving and ever more complex range of societies. We cannot see why this could not be the case for Malta - that is unless ulterior agendas, of which we are unaware, are on the table.

So, blame it on the hunters? If that makes you feel better and relieves you of conscience pains, fine; but at the end of the day, and as we say in our language, iz-zejt dejjem jitla' f'wicc l-ilma (truth shall prevail).