Shooting yourself in the foot

The spring hunting issue has become nauseating. Hun­ters’ organisations make far-fetched demands to ensure their members are permitted to shoot as long as possible; Birdlife expresses shock at the tenacity of demands which are in clear breach of the EU’s Birds Directive; the police unofficially claim they do not have enough resources to clamp down on illegal hunting; the government leaves it till the eleventh hour to reach a decision and then... problems begin.

The statement made in The Times last Friday by Joe Perici Calascione, the hunters’ federation (FKNK) president, reflects a selfish lobby which refuses to take no for an answer.

Mr Perici Calascione urged the government not to succumb to pressure on spring hunting by European Commission officials whose job, he said, was to be “extremely cautious”. But there was more. The FKNK wants last year’s three-week season to be extended to a month, including Sundays.

Eight years on, hunters should acknowledge once and for all that Malta is an EU member. That means member states cannot do as they please.

The European Commission has no objection to sustainable hunting in autumn, but there is a clear reason why the Birds Directive bans hunting in the spring – it is the period when birds migrate.

The Commission made it clear last week that it expects Malta to abide by the provisions of the Birds Directive as well as the European Court of Justice ruling against Malta in 2009.

Unfortunately, that court decision opened the door to interpretation because it also acknowledged that hunters were able to capture only an “inconsiderable number of birds” during autumn. The problem is that the court was basing its decision on figures of hunting catches (reported by hunters themselves) which were strongly disputed by ornithologists.

The government has trimmed the hunting season and beefed up enforcement over the past two years but an unacceptable level of abuse has remained.

The Ornis Committee (the government’s advisory body) is once again recommending the opening of an extended spring hunting season even though the carnet de chasse figures for last autumn have not yet been published.

The government has to reflect on the potential repercussions if it sanctions Ornis recommendations in the coming days and it cannot ignore the European Commission’s warnings.

Certain hunters have shown time and again that they cannot be trusted. A number still persist in doing as they please, even if the FKNK makes genuine attempts to try and stamp out illegal hunting. The bad apples might be a minority, but their numbers are still large enough to cause harm and kill protected birds of prey.

It is bad enough for hunters to take over the countryside, even at unsocial hours, during the week, but to have them occupying ever-disappearing public land during the spring season, or on Sundays, is intolerable.

The autumn season is long and reasonable enough for hunters to practise their hobby. Yes, they will protest vociferously if the spring hunting season is eliminated for good but the government should put its foot down and make it clear it is pointless for the FKNK to try blackmail with its members’ votes.

The Maltese care about their environment more than ever and they can clearly see through any attempt to appease a lobby’s unreasonable demands. This yearly charade has been going on for too long and it must draw to a close.