Hunters' demands may result in more 'infringement' procedures
Ornis committee meeting on Thursday
Recent demands by the hunters' federation would require at least four new exemptions from the EU Birds Directive and may result in more infringement procedures against Malta, according to Birdlife Malta.
Birdlife has issued a position paper criticising the recent set of demands by the hunters' federation - relating to the autumn hunting and trapping season - ahead of Thursday's Ornis Committee meeting.
The hunting federation demand-ed that the season for hunting at sea should be extended until the end of February, which coincides with the spring migration of ducks. It also asked for the speed limit for boats used for hunting to be eliminated.
The federation requested permission to trap five new species in autumn, and that through another exemption, trapping should continue in 2009.
Birdlife said this was in direct violation of Malta's EU Accession Treaty agreement.
"All these demands are simply a direct attack on the national hunting legislation and are in direct violation of the EU Birds Directive. FKNK wants Malta to apply at least four more derogations to accommodate their own interest and they do this without providing any justification, scientific or ecological reasoning or data to back up their demands," Birdlife president Joseph Mangion said.
Under the agreements between Malta and the European Commission contained within the Accession Treaty, the government agreed to phase out the trapping of seven songbird (finch) species by the end of 2008. Andre Raine, Birdlife conservation manager, said: "FKNK not only wants to continue trapping in 2009 in direct violation of the Accession Treaty agreement but also demands that species such as turtle dove, quail, plover, lapwing and song thrush, which are not part of the agreement, also be trapped next autumn.
"We believe that Ornis Committee will reject these unjustifiable demands and that Malta will honour the agreement it signed with the EU and stop trapping by the end of this year."
The position paper also says that the committee should advise the Prime Minister not to even consider opening the spring hunting and trapping season for the benefit of the country, amid warnings from the European Court of Justice which underlined the importance of protecting the EU's common heritage.