No major changes have been made to this spring’s hunting.

The Government had not had time to implement parts of the deal between Labour and the hunters

The Government has decided that hunters will be allowed to shoot exactly the same number of birds as last year, 11,000 turtle doves and 5,000 quails, while hunting will continue to be banned on Saturday afternoons and all day on Sundays.

Rules on daily bag limits will remain in place, with hunters allowed to shoot no more than two birds a day and a total of four in the whole season.

On the other hand, this year’s season, to open between April 10 and 30, will be two days longer than in 2012 and hunters will no longer be required to pay a special licence of €50.

Nor will they have to wear an identification arm band but are still bound to send an SMS every time they kill a bird.

Parliamentary Secretary Roderick Galdes said the Government had accepted the recommendations of the newly composed Ornis Committee.

The Government, he said, had not yet had time to implement important parts of the agreement reached between Labour and the hunters before the election, but it would commission studies with a view to doing so.

On the eve of the election, the hunters’ federation and the Labour Party issued a joint declaration agreeing that EU derogations on spring hunting would be applied “correctly”.

Hunting during spring is illegal under EU rules but a European Court decision in 2009 allowed Malta to derogate for a “restricted” season.

The FKNK had vehemently opposed the national and individual bag limits imposed by the previous Administration and wanted a revision of the Saturday and Sunday bans.