Hunting: Time of reckoning has arrived

It was always going to be on the cards that the EU Commission, having most reluctantly conceded an “exceptional agreement” to allow spring hunting of turtle doves and quail, would carefully monitor the results to ensure there had been no abuse of what had been agreed.

At the time, the Commission had declared that what had been agreed was the “maximum acceptable position”. We urged acceptance of the deal, while simultaneously highlighting that an intrinsic part of the agreement would be the way in which it was enforced.

We are now at the reckoning stage. Given the fraught history of Maltese spring hunting and, fairly or unfairly, the reputation of Maltese hunters, the Commission has understandably, and rightly, asked Malta to send a report on the outcome of the spring hunting season before the end of this month. Already Commission sources close to the Environment Directorate are reported to have expressed “serious reservations” about the figures published by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority on May 3.

Figures released by Mepa indicate that hunters have reportedly only shot 1,842 turtle doves and 366 quail during the “spring hunting season” from April 13 until April 30. These figures appear to reveal considerable discrepancies from those reported in other seasons and even fewer than the restricted quota of 2,500 quail and 9,000 turtle doves allowed under the new indulgence.

During previous hunting seasons, Maltese hunters used to report shooting about 15,000 quail and 32,000 turtle doves in the (then) two-month season, with the largest catches being reported during the last two weeks of April. In the official carnet de chasse for the three years 2005 to 2007 hunters reported catching more than 3,000 quail and 8,000 turtle doves each week during the second half of April. In 2007, the latest comparable figures to this year’s season, hunters reported killing over 9,000 quail and 16,000 turtle doves each week.

On the face of it, even allowing for the fact that according to one ornithologist this has been one of the worst seasons for bird migration, the figures released by Mepa (based on information supplied by the hunters themselves) do seem unusually low and considerably out of kilter with what might have been expected based on the historical data.

There must now be a comprehensive report made not only of the veracity or otherwise of the figures submitted by the hunters, but also of the rules which have been put in place by government to monitor and control shooting in spring. The analysis must weigh a number of factors in the scales. How accurate were the hunters’ reports? Even allowing for Maltese hunters apparently being poor shots, the discrepancy between the number of shots fired by hunters (7,500 according to BirdLife) and the 2,208 birds shot (according to the hunters) does seem suspicious. How workable are the rules for reporting birds shot? Are they open to abuse? How should they be tightened up? Was this an unusually poor migration season? Above all, was police enforcement adequate and how can it be improved? The fact that BirdLife has reported a “dramatic increase” in the killing of protected birds during this spring hunting season must be carefully investigated.

The Commission’s trust in the government’s resolve to abide by the terms agreed with it will depend to a considerable degree on the answer to this last question, as well as a persuasive analysis of the apparent discrepancy in the figures.