An EU warning to Malta on the trapping of song thrush has left trappers’ representatives fuming at the government, which, they say, is not supplying Brussels with the necessary information to justify derogations.

“This is the 12th consecutive time the government has incorrectly applied derogations. One could understand some initial naiveté but you would expect the government to have understood the process by now,” said Hunters and Trappers Federation president Joe Perici Calascione.

The federation is contending that derogations are being rejected by the European Commission due to administrative shortcomings. It met government officials to try and remedy the situation, said its secretary, Lino Farrugia.

In fact, he is more hopeful about the future, even though he cautiously described the meetings as “not negative”.

Asked whether the government intended to apply for further trapping derogations in the future, an Environment Ministry spokesman noted that such decisions would be guided by recommendations of its Ornis Committee.

According to the spokesman, all derogations applied since Malta’s EU accession in 2004 were “fully in line with EU law”. The spokesman noted that the government had used stricter parameters in applying its 2011 trapping derogation.

This was “clear proof” of the government’s commitment to ensure any derogations were in line with the EU Birds Directive, the spokesman added.

Having already received two Commission warnings, the government now has two months to reply and justify its derogation of song thrush trapping if it is to avoid being dragged before the European Court of Justice.

According to Birdlife Malta president Paul Debono, the FKNK’s attempts are destined to fail.

“The EU Birds Directive prohibits trapping except in certain specific cases, mainly related to scientific research. It also allows derogations for the ‘judicious use’ of trapped birds but judicious use would mean trapping 500 birds, not 5,000,” Mr Debono said.

Local trappers insist that their pastime forms part of Malta’s intrinsic social and cultural fabric and dates back hundreds of years.

This justification is unlikely to impress officials in Brussels, with a 2008 Commission report quoting the EU Advocate General as saying that “the fact that the capture of birds for recreational purposes is a ‘historical and cultural tradition’ does not suffice to justify a derogation from the directive”.

Published in September last year, the report does however lend credence to the FKNK’s assertion that the government’s past justifications of derogations have been incomplete.

It notes that several necessary pieces of information, including the availability of alternative solutions to trapping, conditions of strict supervision and evidence that only a small number of birds were trapped, were missing from the government’s derogation.

Mr Perici Calascione said that several other member states had successfully applied derogations to hunting and trapping, “If they can do it, why can’t we?”

Some member states had even successfully applied a derogation on the hunting of song thrush, the same bird that landed the government in hot water with Brussels this week.

“They’re allowed to shoot them, while we’re told we cannot even trap them and keep them alive,” the FKNK president said.

Mr Debono, however, insisted that derogations in other member states were few and far between, only applied to small, specific communities of hunters and ­trappers and were subject to strictly supervised conditions.

“These factors aren’t applicable in Malta’s case. We’ve had multiple cases of hunters and trappers claiming to abide by the law only to then be caught flouting it. The Commission is unlikely to look past that sort of thing.”