Hunters fear plan is afoot to scrap all hunting, trapping

The hunters’ federation suspects the government is incorrectly applying hunting and trapping derogations on purpose in an attempt to eventually eradicate these pastimes completely.

How is it possible for the government to have incorrectly applied 12 consecutive derogations?

FKNK President Joe Perici Calascione, addressing the media on the steps of Castille, the Office of the Prime Minister, yesterday said the government was repeatedly failing to provide the European Commission with the statistical and technical information required when applying a derogation, including the number of trapping licences issued and trapping bag limits.

“Not a single bird species here in Malta falls under critical conservation status. Had the government satisfied these demands, the Commission wouldn’t have objected to the derogations,” Dr Perici Calascione said, adding that correspondence with the Commission had confirmed as much.

A spokesman at the Office of the Prime Minister, however, denied the FKNK allegation, saying it was “false” but not elaborating any further.

Last June, the Commission opened infringement procedures against the government for the trapping derogations it had applied since its post-EU accession grace period expired in 2008.

Two weeks ago the government announced it would be allowing the trapping of song thrush until January 10. Sources close to the Commission said officials there were taken “by surprise” by the government’s latest derogation.

But according to Dr Perici Calascione, the Commission’s infringement procedures were down to the government’s incorrect application of derogations, not the derogations themselves.

“Infringement proceedings are solely due to the fact that for seven straight years, between 2004 and 2010, the government applied derogations incorrectly,” he said.

Given the government’s repeated misapplication of derogations, one had to conclude it was the government, and not the EU, which was seeking to wipe out trapping, he argued.

Dr Perici Calascione posed a rhetorical question: “How is it possible for the government to have incorrectly applied 12 consecutive derogations? It can’t be a simple coincidence.”

The FKNK’s concern, Dr Perici Calascione said, was that the government’s repeated misapplication of derogations would force the Commission to take the government to the European Court of Justice. If the ECJ ruled against the derogations’ legality, then a legal precedent barring trapping could enter into force.