Hunters to present 'protest document' to government

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation during a meeting held last night, decided to take a series of actions this week in its bid to push the government to publish amendments to the hunting regulations.

According to federation secretary Lino Farrugia, these amendments would "avoid a lot of trouble for the government, for hunters and for the police".

Contacted late last night, Mr Farrugia said that the federation will today be presenting a 'protest document' to Environment Minister George Pullicino.

The document, a copy of which will also be presented to the Prime Minister, calls on the government to stop dragging its feet and put into effect the amendments that the two sides had agreed upon.

Mr Farrugia said the federation had been negotiating amendments to the regulations since the government issued a legal notice last March.

According to Mr Farrugia, that legal notice which was supposed to bring the local regulations in line with the Birds Directive was compiled "in a rush and led to a lot of hassle for hunters".

Apart from the protest document, the federation will later on this week be announcing other measures it intends to take to have these amendments published.

Last Wednesday, the federation had given the government until the end of last week to amend the hunting regulations, threatening to stage national protests if this was not done.

The government is known to be considering proposals to amend the laws.

Hunters are stepping up the pressure after the police withdrew an internal memo in which officers were instructed to book, but not arraign, hunters found in breach of sections of the hunting law.

The memo was issued following a protest by a handful of hunters outside the Prime Minister's office at Castille, Valletta on September 30, but police sources said the timing of the memo "was merely a coincidence".

The reason given for the memo was that technical discussions were being held about certain aspects of the law that might eventually be changed. Because of this the police, it was explained, had felt it was better not to arraign anyone on such issues when charges might have to be dropped if the law was changed.

The memo was, however, withdrawn after the European Commission opened a second complaint file on hunting against Malta because of the memo. The Commission said it had serious doubts about hunting law enforcement.

The police have since filed charges in court and have booked a number of people in connection with the trapping of plovers, which can no longer be trapped according to the regulations that were published last March.

The hunters' federation is being pressed by some of its members to hold a mass protest hoping that a show of force will push the government to change its stance on hunting. Sources close to the association said "there was a lot of anger" among hunters about the matter.

Sources said new regulations were being studied and although these would amend those issued in March, a new set of laws would be issued "to avoid having complications, misinterpretations and loopholes".

The new regulations will have to transpose the Birds Directive, just like the March regulations, which were issued at the eleventh hour as Malta was about to become subject to another infringement procedure from the EU over the matter.

Though hunters are once again trying to flex their political muscle, Labour leader Alfred Sant last year had made it clear that a Labour government would have to follow the contractual obligations the Nationalist government had negotiated with the EU.

"The government is basically following what it negotiated. We had warned before the election that what the Nationalist Party was promising could not materialise. Irrespective of whether one agrees with hunting or trapping, one has to admit that hunters and trappers have been deceived," Dr Sant had said.

Asked whether Labour in government would do something about new hunting regulations, Dr Sant had said these were part of international commitments that had been entered into and which had to be honoured.