Brussels agrees 'very limited' hunting next spring possible
'Government only trying to give hunters a false hope'
The EU Executive said for the first time that spring hunting may still take place next year following last week's ruling by the European Court of Justice in a case instituted by the Commission against Malta in 2006.
A Commission spokesman said Malta might be justified to make use of a derogation under the Birds Directive although any hunting in spring taking place would have to be in "limited" numbers and according to "strict" rules. "In light of the court's judgment, any proposed derogation for spring hunting in Malta would have to be proportionate with the aims of the Birds Directive on the conservation of wild birds as well as comply with the conditions under Article 9 (1) (c) of the Birds Directive, namely that any hunting of certain birds in small numbers is carried out under strictly supervised conditions on a selective basis," the spokesman said.
Pressed to say whether this could be interpreted as meaning that the Maltese authorities could still allow hunting to take place in spring 2010, the spokesman said this might be the case if the way Malta used the derogation "complies with the conditions laid down in the Birds Directive".
Although many were expecting that the ECJ would ban spring hunting permanently, the court's ruling appears to have left the door ajar for hunters when it conceded that, based on the statistics presented in the case, the autumn season did not really offer an alternative to spring.
However, the ECJ also said that the conditions on which Malta authorised spring hunting did not fulfil the requirement for proportionality.
"The prolongation of the hunting season for those two migratory species (quail and turtle dove) by authorisation of hunting for approximately two months in spring, during which (migratory birds) are returning to their rearing grounds, which results in a mortality rate three times higher (about 15,000 birds killed) for quails and eight times higher (about 32,000 birds killed) for turtle doves than for the autumn hunting season, does not constitute an adequate solution that is strictly proportionate to the Directive's objective of conservation of the species," the ECJ ruled.
This has been interpreted as meaning that, if the government manages to curtail the number of birds shot in spring, some form of spring hunting season could be allowed. In fact, the European Commission's position reflects comments made by the government in the aftermath of the judgment on Thursday when the Office Prime Minister said the judgment was being analysed to decide whether "very limited hunting under strict conditions" could be allowed.
Hunters have hailed such interpretation as a victory for them but the prospect was shot down by BirdLife Malta, which said the government was only trying to give hunters a "false hope". The conservation group pointed out that the EJC's argument was premised on the "gravely underestimated" number of birds that were reported killed by hunters.
"Any government initiative to open the spring season would have to keep this in mind. The figures deemed excessive by the ECJ are hardly the numbers hunters can be expected to stick to," a BirdLife spokesman said.