Mark Mifsud Bonnici, Kaċċaturi San Ubertu, San Pawl tat-Tarġa
Putting EU standards into hunting regulations
A news item on regulating bouncers (June 25) stated, among other things, that "notwithstanding years of discussion, the security aspect in bars and clubs remains unregulated".
The same may be said about bird-shooting. Believe it or not, in Malta there are no regulations governing hunting. There exist only regulations for the protection of birds, which include hunting regulations just as much as they exclude them.
The above, together with corresponding recommendations to remedy the problem, was pointed out to Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi on June 16, 2008 at a meeting we had with him. Over a year has passed and still there is no attempt to address this lacuna. One of the reasons is that there are people with a vested interest to keep the status quo.
One recommendation was for the Ornis Committee to be replaced by a Hunting Advisory Unit within the Ministry for the Environment. The members of the Ornis Committee receive a payment of €23.30 per hour of each sitting.
It is physically impossible for the committee to carry out in full all its functions as outlined, apart from the fact that its members are not qualified to do so. Going by its performance in the past, the OC serves two functions admirably, namely, as a smokescreen for the minister concerned, and as a scapegoat when things go wrong!
Mepa is supposed to be in charge! But there is not a single Mepa official who is knowledgeable about hunting matters. The fact is that the EU Birds Directive has become the bible of bird-protection, and the Maltese regulations for bird protection have been superseded by it.
These facts are overlooked, and time and money are being wasted in the pursuit of hot air! The uselessness of Mepa and the OC is evident when one considers the recent repetitive arrogance with which Birdlife Malta keep putting pressure on the Prime Minister for the creation of a wildlife crimes unit. One does not hear a word from Mepa on this. The OC is also conspicuous through its silence. It was the Prime Minister's office that dryly announced he does not see the need for such a unit.
In the meantime, Birdlife keeps purposely blowing out of proportion sporadic cases of illegal hunting. Again, both the Mepa and the Ornis Committee are silent. It is always the FKNK and the KSU that try to put the picture in its true perspective.
The foreigners Birdlife employs have to justify the salaries they are getting, and in this particular sphere it is essential for them to get as much publicity as possible. In the coming months, therefore, expect more of the same from Birdlife. But do not expect reactions from Mepa and the Ornis committee.
It is high time the government gives the matter serious consideration. Only then will it be possible to put a real halt to illegalities and to Birdlife's nauseating habit of inflating them.
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r sammut
Jul 3rd 2009, 18:09
@Chriss Finch From which ever country you originated, I am sure hunting/shooting is to be found on much larger scale. So why is this obsession of yours to stop this small island mentality? Is there a mentality change in a larger place? Your stay here is most welcomed. It’s just your impositions about the change to our lifestyle, we find offensive! Taking a holier than thou attitude is betraying the extremist attitude you harbour. You perhaps came across the saying; when in Rome do as… now while still in Malta please try and give this some thought!
D.Caruana
Jul 3rd 2009, 14:32
Hats off to Joseph Lia's last comment!
Well said.
Joseph Lia
Jul 3rd 2009, 09:02
@Mr Finch
I assure you sir I am not stuck in any decade, for your information I fully understand Malta's unique situation. Do not try to apply regulations or across-the-board decisions taken in some far away lucrative Brussels office upon a section of people, without even attempting to check out things hands-on. What's good for the goose is not necessarily good for the gander.
Are ALL Maltese, fireworks enthusiasts? Certainly not, but its a way of life!
Are ALL Maltese rod-fishermen, snorklers, ramblers,carnival enthusiasts, regatta rowers so on and so on....most of these Maltese hardly make up a healthy percentage, but it is their unique way of life and NO Brussels technocrat , mr Finch,can take that away from us.
Modern lifestyle or not. I would rather have these cultures tenfold, than this Modern 'AGE' you, sir, keep bragging about! Look where it has landed us!
D.Caruana
Jul 3rd 2009, 08:48
Chris Finch,
Turtle Doves can't be bought in supermarkets and quails bought there are farmed and nothing like the wild game bird which incidentally is even hunted in the bible.
Your daily comments and those of some others show how extremist you are. Abolishinists.
That makes you as bad as the poachers my dear friend.
Chris Finch
Jul 2nd 2009, 21:12
@ David Borg Cardona - I am not implying that God will judge you for the amount of birds that you kill, but He will judge you for the pleasure you take in killing another living creature be it 100 or just 1.
@ Alfred Zammit - By your argument one can do whatever he likes and bet on God forgiving you. I'm afraid it doesn't quite work like that.
@ Joseph Lia. So once again we come to the argument of a few people with a small island mentality. The world has moved on from whatever decade you are stuck in. Other people have a right to live, work, pay taxes and even dare to comment on the place where they live.
It also seems that you are claiming that killing birds is the normal Maltese way of life, as far as I can tell from comments from other hunters, there are only about 10,000 (or 15,000 depending on which day of the week it is) hunters in Malta out of a population of 450,000. thats less than 10% so in no way shape or form is it a Maltese way of life.
MARK MIFSUD BONNICI
Jul 2nd 2009, 20:02
ChrisFinch.
It's about time you oiled your logic. Buying quail or dove from the supermarket is all OK by you whilst shooting them is not. What exactly are you trying to prove? if rather then shooting birds we were to wring their necks and put them in plastic bags would you then approve of hunters. What utter rubbish?
You consider hunting as killing for pleasure. How pathetically ignorant can one get. If anything the only pleasure hunters derive is reading the rubbish some people write.
As for Hatred, I would rather be concerned about you own God as i can think of no God, not even the hunter's, that would forgive the sort of hatred you have for hunters and hunting.
As for your reference to racial hatred the Maltese have lived with the Jones's and the Finch's because these have learnt how to appreciate and accept the Maltese way of life. But I can assure you anybody, foreign or not, that dares lie and incite hatred towards a sector of the population has no place in Maltese society. Apart from a few of their lackeys most consider such people as garbage.
David Borg Cardona
Jul 2nd 2009, 19:25
@ Chris Finch.. Of course it makes a difference having foreigners leading BLM. Since the advent of these foreigners (an ex Greenpeace activist & a Bermudan Ornithologist), the whole situation has degenerated remarkably. In order to prove their position and to justify their exorbitant salaries, they have inflated figures, twisted facts and given Malta the worst publicity ever by slandering its name all over any imaginable media. As Joey Lia correctly puts it, they do not understand the Maltese way of life and never will do. All that interests them is their personal glory. With rgds to your hogwash about quails and turtle doves being bought in a supermarket. you might like to know that whether you eat them out of my game bag or out of a shop freezer, they have both been killed in the same humane manner and destined for the pot.. So as usual your argument holds no ground. And please do not put God into the equation... Your implying that God will judge us for the amount of birds we take ( not many mind you !! ) shows that the arguments presented by staunch anti's like you are null and void.
Alfred E. Zammit
Jul 2nd 2009, 17:54
@Chris Finch We’re betting on God’s infinite wisdom and mercy, and hope He will be an infinitely better judge than some humans whose limited knowledge causes them to make warped judgments based on prejudice and non-sequiturs.
joseph lia
Jul 2nd 2009, 17:37
@Mr Finch - As Mark rightly put it there is a great amount of difference whether or not 'foreigners' are employed in a certain organization! BLM is led by non-Maltese, people who are not born and bred locals. People who may be good at their job but simply do not comprehend the Mediterrenean way of life, attitude and unique situation. What do you mean 'YOUR GOD'? Isn't that being spiteful when referring to hunters? Even Nordic folk do not comprehend Central Europeans let alone non-Maltese enjoying a relatively high status in this organization trying to dictate (albeit in a highly inflated manner) EU regulations to us Maltese! When the same EU regulations cater for all and sundry, even for us hunters and trappers and our GOD!
Chris Finch
Jul 2nd 2009, 16:59
hmmm. a couple of points,
1. What difference does it make where the people who work for an organisation come from? Does the FKNK have any 'foreigners' as MMB so disrespectfully puts it in its ranks or are hunters just a Maltese phenomenon in Malta? By the way inciting racial hatred is a crime, and pointing out that Birdlife has foreigners working for it in order to turn people against it, is inciting racial hatred.
2. There is a clear disticntion between killing to live and killing for the shear pleasure of taking something's life (and don't give me that rubbish abou tyou hunting for the pot, if you want to eat quail or turtle doves then buy it in the shop, you hunt because you get some disturbing pleasure in taking life - a distinction I am sure your God is all too aware of. Good luck on judgement day, I think you will need it.
D.Caruana
Jul 2nd 2009, 16:39
As Franco Farrugia once told me on this very site.............
He really needs to get a life!!!
r sammut
Jul 2nd 2009, 16:30
The Bird Directive is the guidelines for EU countries to follow. Each member adapts its laws to conform to these. Some examples: the autumn season opens the 12th August in England. Other member states have the close of the winter season extended to end of February. Some birds can be taken in places but are illegal in others. The afternoon ban as enforced in Malta during the two past Septembers is not to be found in any Bird Directive! There are also derogations applied differently, as initially we were granted to shoot quails and turtle doves in the spring and then revoked.
In Malta it is BLM pressure and manoeuvres which seems to be dictating the outcome by which the law is implemented!
Had hunters and their associations not argument and even discredit exaggerations and fabrications made up by same BLM, the public’s opinion of hunters would be in much dire straights! Hunters just seen as ruthless individuals! As even the FKNK’s and KSU’s work in conservation is not only not recognised but even discredited by certain individuals.
D.Caruana
Jul 2nd 2009, 16:19
Well written Mark!!!
MARK MIFSUD BONNICI
Jul 2nd 2009, 15:59
FrancoFarrugia.
"Shooting Birds is killing birds". Really Mr.Farrugia how true.
Actually the meat you often eat also consists of "killing".
So before you admit that being a hypocrite does not help your argument against killing, I suggest you stop being "nauseating" with your pathetic anti "killing" arguments.
If you find my criticism of Birdlfie nauseating, you might really have nowhere else to run. Birdlife are on record as saying they do not oppose legal hunting in fact they approve of my legal "killing"
So really that leaves you quite isolated in your warped line of argument. All sensible people seem to disagree with you.
Too Bad!!!
MARK MIFSUD BONNICI
Jul 2nd 2009, 15:50
C Mallia
Where in my letter did I ever complain about the Birds Directive. I stated "the EU Birds Directive has become the bible of bird-protection". Added to this I also said "Maltese regulations for bird protection have been superseded by it."
Yes, we are finally regulated by sensible, internationally accepted regulations. The only problem, as amplified in my letter is that the current setup within MEPA and the purposely set up Ornis Committee, know as much about hunting as I do about Chinese.
All we are stating is that hunting matters can no longer be decided by people whose main contribution has been to warm up the chairs they sit on and obey orders
The Birds Directive is a tool that contributes towards sustainable hunting. It also guarantees the rights of Maltese hunters to practice within allowed parameters according to Malta's specific conditions.
As things stand the fear of losing votes coupled by the appointing of totally unqualified "experts' only resulted in nonsensical Governmental decisions more often than not totally unrelated to the Directive's intended purpose.
Hope "YOU' now understand.
Andrew Gatt
Jul 2nd 2009, 14:47
Now, now Franco.....don't get all upset and emotional again. You're reading too many Birdlife press releases - don't let their sob stories influence you too much!
Go eat a burger or a sanitised prepackaged piece of meat or something.
C Mallia
Jul 2nd 2009, 12:20
MMB wants to put EU standards into hunting regulations but at the same time complains that the Bird Directive has become the 'bible' of bird protection. The Bird Directive is the EU standard. Hunting and trapping is regulated by this directive, and any concessions are strictly monitored by it. Is it so difficult to understand?
Franco Farrugia
Jul 2nd 2009, 09:37
@ MMB: Your constant attacks and digs at Birdlife is nauseating. Shooting down all kinds of birds is taking place, whether you care to admit it or not. Shooting birds is just that - killing birds!