Hunters should be mature and use the coming spring hunting season to build on the years to come, hunting federation PRO Joe Perici Calascione said yesterday.
According to BirdLife, the Ornis Committee's recommendation is for the season to run between April 10 and 30 and that hunters will be able to shoot 22,298 turtle doves and 10,837 quails. There are 10,000 registered hunters.
Mr Perici Calascione praised the Ornis Committee for taking the hunters' proposals very seriously and basing the discussion on these proposals. But he said he was still hoping the government would increase the bag limits considerably.
The proposed figures are based on the number of birds hunters recorded themselves shooting in the spring seasons of 2002 and 2007.
The hunters' federation had conceded that the figures were flawed and unrealistic but Mr Perici Calascione still argued they were the "best available data" and were even accepted by the European Court of Justice.
Asked whether hunters would be satisfied with killing only three birds each during the season, he said the figure was based on misconceptions intended to alarm people and cause unnecessary panic.
"For instance, not every hunter shoots both kinds of birds," he said, adding that even if the bag limits were not increased, the hunters should still behave seriously to build on the years to come.
Meanwhile BirdLife, which described Wednesday's meeting as "farcical", reiterated its position that the figures originally given by the hunters were a "gross underrepresentation" of the actual number of birds being shot, the same figures on which the Malta Environment and Planning Authority based its proposals.
"The fact is that hunters will be shooting many more than that and there is no way of controlling it," a spokesman said, adding that BirdLife was considering its position in the Ornis Committee.
The original figures proposed by Mepa were for the killing of a total of 67,000 birds but these were revised downwards during the discussions.
The hunters' federation accused BirdLife of publishing details of the Ornis Committee's meeting even if the committee had decided not to disclose any details.
It said it would publicly announce all details of its proposals in a televised programme on March 19.
Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday slammed the Ornis Committee for recommending hunting in spring and blamed the political parties for the decision.
The green party warned that if the EU directives were not respected, Malta would fall victim to heavy monetary fines, which the taxpayer should not be made to pay. Instead, politicians responsible for giving hunters the impression that hunting in spring was compatible with EU directive should pay "out of their own pockets", AD said, adding that the Nationalist and Labour parties made a "farce" of the hunting issue.
"Instead of attempting to conform to EU legislation, which prohibits hunting in spring, both parties are attempting to please everyone at the same time, the net loser being the environment and the majority of people who are in favour of improving and protecting our natural environment."