BirdLife welcomes changes but wants more

BirdLife International has called on the European Commission to insist that Malta complies with the Birds Directive and bans spring hunting.

The government last week announced Malta had adopted the Birds Directive.

Describing Malta as "Europe's worst offender on illegal bird hunting and trapping", BirdLife said the island is finally showing signs of coming in line with EU bird protection laws.

BirdLife's head in Brussels, Konstantin Kreiser, said that after years of hard work by BirdLife, conservation organisations and EU institutions, Malta has finally accepted it had been breaching European legislation since joining the EU.

"The legal changes came literally overnight. And although it is obvious that this 'understanding' only happened after the threat of being taken to the European Court became immediate, we now hope to see considerable progress for bird conservation," he said.

Last July, BirdLife International and BirdLife Malta lodged a formal complaint with the EU Commission accusing the government of failing to adequately transpose the EU Birds Directive (79/409/EEC) in relation to "rampant bird hunting and trapping".

According to BirdLife, the trapping of a number of species will now be outlawed, and the use of speedboats to hunt birds, such as ducks, will also be illegal.

Although the trapping of seven finch species may go on until 2008 under certain conditions, trapping in spring will be illegal from now on, it said.

On spring hunting, BirdLife commented that despite the new rules, Malta is still claiming to use exemptions ("derogations") to enable the hunting of migratory turtle-dove and quail between March and May to continue.

Malta argues that these birds have to be hunted because it is the only time they occur on the island. However, Mr Kreiser does not agree, insisting that the two species also fly back through Malta on their return autumn migration. Because of this, BirdLife is urging the European Commission not to approve this derogation.

"Although this move by the government is a step in the right direction, we hope it is not just a token gesture, and that the new hunting law is properly enforced to ensure that Malta ceases to be the graveyard of so many of Europe's migratory birds," Mr Kreiser said.