No spring hunting this year, government says

The government said yesterday it would be respecting the decision by the European Courts of Justice on spring hunting, adding that, in view of the ruling in favour of interim measures, the spring hunting season will not be opening this year.

A five-line statement was the government's only reaction to the news on the ECJ decision handed down on Thursday evening.

As expected, BirdLife Malta and BirdLife International welcomed the decision to order Malta not to open the 2008 spring hunting season for turtle dove and quail. According to the organisations, the order implied that the Court saw an "urgent need to prevent irreversible damage to these migratory bird species while a final ruling on this case is pending and not expected before 2009".

They said the court also stressed the importance of protecting the EU's common heritage and quoted the court stating that "the interest of hunters does not appear to have a value superior thereto".

Konstantin Kreiser, the EU policy manager at BirdLife International, said: "Although we regret it had to come this far - and Europe-wide embarrassment has been caused for Malta - we are confident that, now, government-authorised spring hunting has become a thing of the past in Malta. At the same time we hope that the Maltese government, the police and all stakeholders will work together to clamp down on the still widely spread illegal hunting and trapping in the country".

Last January, following a complaint by BirdLife, the European Commission took the Maltese government to the European Court for having allowed, every spring since the country's accession to the EU in 2004, hunting and trapping of turtle dove and common quail, alleging it was in direct contravention of the EU Birds Directive.

Joseph Mangion, President of BirdLife Malta commented: "We are pleased to see that the court has acknowledged the importance of protecting the common natural heritage of the European Union and its member states as overriding the individual interests of the Maltese hunters, who have the opportunity nonetheless to hunt these same birds in autumn. Malta has a special responsibility as it is the southernmost central Mediterranean country through which migratory birds first pass on their way to their European breeding grounds and we should be setting an example rather than seeking exceptions". When contacted by The Times, Police Commissioner John Rizzo said the Maltese people were not interested in knowing how the police would ensure that the European Court's decision is upheld. He assured the people the police will be enforcing the law using all their resources.

"I cannot tell you the logistics of how we will be conducting enforcement. At the moment, hunting is prohibited so we are going to be doing all we can to enforce the law. It is very simple," he said.

Asked whether he will be increasing the number of officers assigned to the Administrative Law Enforcement unit in order to be in a better position to ensure the law is upheld, Mr Rizzo said: "This is a question of logistics and The Times and your readers are not interested in and cannot be given this information".

"The whole Police Force and not only the ALE will be enforcing the law, whether it is homicides, thefts or hunting.

These are all crimes and the police are there to ensure that the law is respected. The police have been enforcing the law on hunting since the first quail was seen flying over Malta and will continue to do so," he said.

Various attempts to contact the hunters' federation's public relations officer, Joe Perici Calascione and general secretary Lino Farrugia, proved futile.