The autumn afternoon hunting curfew will be in place again this year after the Ornis Committee voted to retain it.

Introduced five years ago to protect birds of prey roosting overnight during the peak migration season, the hunters’ federation (FKNK) had hoped the curfew would be scrapped this year under the Labour Government.

FKNK general secretary Lino Farrugia said his group put forward three different proposals in the Ornis Committee meeting on dates and timings of the autumn season, but they were all voted against.

In a final vote, it was agreed that there would be a curfew again this autumn, although the timings were not specified.

The Ornis Committee makes decisions and recommendations to the Government on hunting and trapping issues. It is made up of two members each from the FKNK and conservationist NGO Birdlife, plus a chairman, secretary and an Environment Protection Directorate representative.

In a press release, the FKNK said the timings of the curfew might be different to previous years. Last year, the curfew was in place from 3pm until two hours before sunrise.

Mr Farrugia said the final say on the timings of the curfew will be made by the Government. FKNK had proposed to extend it until 7pm.

A Birdlife spokesman said extending the curfew until the evening would defeat its purpose as many migrating birds looking to roost would arrive in mid-afternoon.

The curfew means poachers are not able to operate in the open as no one should be hunting in those hours.

The Government has found a ‘technical loophole’ in EU rules

Birdlife said evidence gleaned from its Raptor Camp last autumn showed that protected birds of prey were targeted significantly more in the afternoons in October, when the curfew was lifted.

Birdlife is proposing the curfew is extended into the first week of October this year.

In its press release, the FKNK also said it felt a live-finch trapping season this autumn was unlikely to happen as the Government was not adequately prepared to apply a derogation from the EU Birds Directive, which prohibits the practice.

Trapping is on the agenda for the next Ornis Committee meeting in August.

The FKNK claims it has supplied the Government with “adequate proposals and tools for the correct application of derogations” to allow trapping.

Asked about this, the Birdlife spokesman expressed doubts about the island’s capacity to police a finch trapping season, claiming that illegal finch trapping is already widespread.

Following the spring hunting season, Parliamentary Secretary for Animal Rights, Roderick Galdes, said the Government had found a “technical loophole” in EU rules that would allow bird trapping in autumn.

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