Lino Farrugia, secretary of the FKNK, listed some of the "exclusive privileges" of licensed bird-ringers (October 30). It is indeed interesting that Mr Farrugia has suddenly taken an interest in ringing now that finch trapping has ended in line with EU Accession Treaty Agreements. The FKNK have made it clear that they wish to use ringing as a cynical tool to allow finch trapping to continue in Malta despite the binding agreements between Malta and the European Union.

However, Mr Farrugia failed to mention several critical aspects that highlight the vast differences between bird trapping and scientific bird ringing, namely that:

(a) Bird-ringing is a scientific tool for the advancement of ornithology and is used to investigate a wide range of aspects critical to bird conservation including the study of bird migration routes, annual fluctuations in populations and the overall health of migratory populations. Bird trapping simply involves catching a bird and keeping it in captivity as a hobby.

(b) Bird-ringers undergo at least two years intensive training before acquiring a police bird-ringing licence. Bird ringers are trained under the Malta bird-ringing scheme, administered by BirdLife Malta. This ringing scheme, which has been carried out since 1965, is recognised internationally as the sole ringing organisation in Malta by EURING (The European Union for Bird Ringing), which is the association of bird-ringing schemes in Europe.

(c) Bird-ringers release all the birds immediately back into the wild - this is critical to ensure that wild birds can continue their migration unhindered, and prevents the spread of disease inherent in keeping wild birds in captivity. Bird trappers do not release the birds, but keep them in captivity.

(d) Annual totals of bird ringing are accurate and reliable as all rings used, which are numbered and registered, are accountable. This is entirely different than the carnet de chasse system of finding out what birds are shot or trapped, which is not verified in any way in the field.

Mr Farrugia would do well to bear these important differences in mind in the future, which would help to prevent confusion on his behalf regarding scientific bird ringing and bird trapping.