Meeting postponed by a day as trappers await verdict

Finch trappers, who are anxious to learn whether they will be allowed to trap this March, will have to wait for at least another day to find out after an Ornis Committee meeting was postponed to tomorrow.

The meeting was postponed after some members felt that the notice they had been given was too short.

The committee was to have discussed whether the trapping season should open and between which dates, and make its recommendations to the government.

The government, which has the final say, is known to be looking for a solution. It is under enormous pressure from two sides: while trappers demand to be allowed to practise their hobby, NGO BirdLife and other international organisations are campaigning hard against spring hunting and trapping. And the European Commission has pronounced itself against the recent decision to open the spring hunting season.

Commission sources yesterday told The Times that the outcome of EU accession negotiations with Malta made it very clear that finch trapping has to take place only in autumn as there was no justification for the government to open the season in spring as well.

The government was meant to have established a captive breeding system and trappers had to be trained in breeding. Captive breeding necessitates the trapping of some birds every year to maintain a genetic diversity.

The Commission sources said finches trapped in autumn can be used for breeding purposes and reiterated that there was absolutely no justification for spring trapping.

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation has convened hunters for a protest in Valletta today. They will be meeting at 5.30 p.m. at City Gate and will then march to Parliament.

The hunters had said it would protest unless a legal notice announcing the dates for spring hunting was issued by today.

Although the Ornis Committee has proposed that the hunting of quail can be permitted between April 1 and May 10 and the hunting of turtle dove can be carried out between April 10 and May 20, the dates have not yet been approved by the government. The seasons are shorter than those proposed by the hunters.

Today's Ornis Committee was also meant to discuss hunting at sea, but chairman Louis Cilia pushed the date forward following complaints about short notice.

The hunters' federation has proposed trapping for seven species of songbird for a month starting from March and hunting at sea for ducks and geese for 15 days between the first and second moons of March. It also proposed two months of hunting and trapping for quails and turtle doves, starting from March 20.

BirdLife is opposed to both the opening of sea hunting and finch trapping, arguing it is in violation of EU law.

Referring to trapping in spring, BirdLife warned yesterday that the only derogation Malta had obtained during the accession negotiations was the trapping of seven finche species in autumn. Allowing trapping in spring may risk another infringement procedure being started by the European Commission, Birdlife warned, following existing procedures over spring hunting.

Police from the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit have booked some eight trappers since Sunday, sources said. These were allegedly found using small clap nets and in possession of a small number of finches.

On Sunday, the police also found a man trapping robins in the vicinity of Buskett.

Sources said that over the past six months, the police had booked several people trapping robins, something they had not done for a long time as robin trapping had waned. It appears to be making a gradual comeback.