Greens blast lack of action over bird protection

Environmental organisations yesterday piled further pressure on the government over the killing of two spoonbills at the Ghadira nature reserve last Saturday.

Nature Trust called for the urgent introduction of a green warden system and a hefty increase in fines for those who break hunting regulations.

It said the decision to postpone the full implementation of the EU's Birds Directive by seven years after accession was "environmentally unfriendly".

It invited the political forces to have another look at the statistics that showed that the hunting and trapping lobby were politically irrelevant in terms of election results.

The trust also urged the authorities to beef up the police administrative law enforcement unit.

Another green organisation, BirdLife Malta, which manages the reserve, said the killing of the two protected birds showed how the government did not have a strategy to deal with the problem of illegal hunting.

It said that before the incident an unusual number of hunters had been seen regularly checking out the birds from the perimeter of the reserve, as well as in the bay at Ghadira.

BirdLife also expressed disappointment at the way the Minister for Rural Affairs had taken its comment regarding the reserve's funds. The group had said the organisation was owed money by the government for the management of the reserves and was not in a position to step up vigilance. The minister had reacted by pointing a finger at BirdLife for the lack of security.

BirdLife yesterday said the minister's comments showed he failed to appreciate the voluntary, sterling work it was doing to protect birds and the natural environment.

The minister, it said, was fully aware that bureaucracy at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had delayed the payment of the funds and that officials within the system were making it difficult for NGOs to work.

The government was granting concessions to the hunters, such as reducing the hunting age, allowing hunting from secondary roads and granting an amnesty for 270,000 protected birds in hunters' collections but was not increasing resources for law enforcement.

By allowing hunting in spring, the government was making sure that atrocities would continue in spite of the national outcry, BirdLife said.