BirdLife sets up billboards against trapping

BirdLife Malta has set up six billboards with messages against trapping.

The campaign is part of the new EU LIFE + Project on bird migration and trapping. The billboards show an empty trapper's cage and three free finches, which are the main targets of trappers, sitting on top of the billboards.

The new EU Life + Project on Bird Migration and Trapping is the only Life+ project that Malta has managed to obtain to date and it will run for two years. The information project aims to raise awareness on the importance of Malta for bird migration, with a special focus on the species which have been targeted by Maltese trappers. The project will also highlight the negative impacts of bird trapping on Malta's breeding birds and the natural environment.

BirdLife said trapping is illegal in the EU under the Birds Directive. The trapping of birds using clap nets and live decoys is a very effective method to catch wild birds. It can have serious repercussions on local breeding populations of the target species, in some cases causing localised extinctions. Wild birds in the vicinity of a trapping site are lured in by the calls of decoy birds in cages and are then caught when the clap nets are fired over them.

During the Accession Treaty negotiations Malta obtained a period to gradually phase out trapping until the end of 2008. Under these binding agreements with the European Union, the trapping of only seven species of finch was allowed in Malta until the end of 2008, BirdLife said.

It added that many people were still not aware of the serious implications of trapping on Maltese wild life and the legally binding agreements. This EU LIFE+ project therefore aimed to raise awareness on these issues.

The project is 50% funded by the EU LIFE Unit with additional contributions from MEPA and the project partners. It is a partnership between BirdLife Malta, Media Today and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (BirdLife partner in the UK).