Update 3 - Adds FKNK, Birdlife and government reactions - Birdlife reacted angrily this afternoon after the government announced the Autumn hunting season and revealed that the hours of a mid-season curfew will be reduced.

But the FKNK said it it would support the Government’s first step towards gradually eliminating the curfew, which, it said, was unilaterally imposed on the hunting season.

The government said that on the recommendations of the Ornis Committee, the season will open on September 1 and close on January 31 for hunting on land and from October 1 for hunting at sea.

The dates are unchanged from previous years but a curfew after 3 p.m. between September 15 and 30 has been reduced.

The hunting of birds on land shall be permitted between two hours before sunrise and two hours after sunset on any day between Monday and Saturday, and between two hours before sunrise and 1pm on Sundays and public holidays.

However hunting on land between September 15 and October 7 will not be permitted from Mondays to Saturdays after 7 pm and two hours before sunrise of the next following day.

"This measure is being implemented as an additional safeguard for the passage of migrating protected birds," the government said.

It noted that over the past few years, a hunting “curfew” was imposed between September 15 and 30, prohibiting all hunting after 3pm during this period.

"Recognising that this “curfew” was considered to have deprived law-abiding hunters from hunting opportunities in the afternoon, whilst at the same time recognising the need to strengthen enforcement and safeguard the passage of protected birds of prey, the Government has decided to limit the applicability of the “curfew” to 7pm, which would ensure additional protection during the time when the roosting birds are most vulnerable, whilst extending the period of this measure up to 7th of October in order to ensure greater protection for birds of prey migrating during the first week of October. Should this measure be abused, the Government will consider other, stricter options," the Government said.

The Government will demand nothing short of strict compliance with the hunting regulations established in the law and will ensure that these are adhered to.

It said law enforcement will be strengthened to the levels comparable to those deployed in April this year during the period of the Spring hunting derogation.

A Wild Birds Regulation Unit established within the Parliamentary Secretariat for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights will monitor the season closely and will coordinate with the relevant law enforcement bodies, including with the Ministry for Home Affairs and National Security, the Police, the AFM and MEPA in order to deter and eradicate abuse.

"In line with the zero-tolerance policy for hunting infringements, the Government will demand nothing short of strict compliance with the hunting regulations established in the law and will ensure that these are adhered to."

The government  appealed to hunting organisations and individual hunters to ensure that no illegal hunting takes place.

BIRDLIFE, CABS REACTIONS

In its reaction, Birdlife describing the team that took this decision as Malta’s very own “Birds Deregulation Unit”.

BirdLife Malta Executive Director Steve Micklewright said, “The media revealed that the government’s new Wild Birds Regulation Unit was being staffed by hunting sympathisers last week. Today’s decision clearly shows what happens when you put hunters in charge of bird conservation.”

Today’s decision clearly shows what happens when you put hunters in charge of bird conservation- Birdlife

Describing the decision as a “licence for the illegal killing of protected birds”, Mr Micklewright concluded that, “This decision clearly shows that bird conservation on Malta is not best served by the new Wild Birds Regulation Unit under the Parliamentary Secretary for Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights.”

BirdLife said it has written to the prime minister asking for his direct intervention.

“In our letter to the Prime Minister we call for bird conservation issues to be dealt with by the Minister for Sustainable Development, the Environment and Climate Change, the decision to remove the curfew only emphasises that these issues are in the wrong hands.”

Birdlife said it had provided clear evidence to the Ornis Committee that when the 3pm curfew was not in place during the first week of October when bird of prey migration was still on, there many more incidents of shooting at protected species in the afternoons compared to when the curfew was still in place in September. This clearly showed that the 3pm curfew was effective. 

In a separate statement, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) described the government's decision as a “death sentence for protected bird species”. It said that a proven instrument to protect endangered birds, accepted and welcomed by a wide spectrum of the Maltese population, has been unnecessarily sacrificed to the interests of hunters and poachers.

GOVERNMENT DENIES BIRDLIFE CLAIMS

In a reaction to the Birdlife statement, the secretariat for animal welfare said it rejected the 'unfounded, false and derogatory' assertion that the newly established Wild Birds Regulation Unit lacks objectivity.

The Unit, it said, has the function of ensuring centralised and coordinated sustainable hunting governance. This function includes liaison with the relevant EU and international bodies, compilation of statistics and reports, streamlining and improvement of legislation, coordination of enforcement and operational processes such as hunting examinations, licensing as well as coordination with a variety of stakeholders.

The Unit consists of six employees seconded from the various sections of the Environment and Planning Directorates of MEPA and one employee seconded from another ministry due to his knowledge and experience in hunting regulation matters.

The Unit is headed by a seconded former manager of MEPA’s international projects team who has vast experience in coordinating and managing a diverse array of environmental programmes, initiatives and projects including projects related to nature conservation.

Besides two seconded members of MEPA secretarial staff who have extensive experience in administration of licensing processes related to hunting, other seconded employees include a manager of MEPA’s Avifauna Section, with over two decades of experience in enforcement of bird-related crime, an environment protection officer, who specialises bird conservation issues and another officer who is a conservation biologist.

"These employees have been seconded on the basis of their qualifications, experience and skills related to the functions of the new Unit and not on the basis of "sympathising" with any particular lobby," the government said.

"The new Unit has the same level of autonomy and status as other entities within the same ministry, such as for instance the directorate responsible for animal welfare, or the directorate responsible for agriculture or fisheries."

With regard to the curfew,the secretariat noted that the 3pm curfew as applied in previous years between 15th and 30th September was a measure, introduced at the national level upon suggestion of the Malta Ornis Committee, as an additional safeguard for the passage of protected birds over the Maltese Islands during the period of peak migration in Autumn.

"Malta appears to be the only EU member state that has implemented such a measure, despite the fact that several other member states have far more significant incidence of illegal persecution of protected birds of prey including during migration."

The secretariat said that while the records provided by Birdlife showed that the measure did have an effect on reducing the number of alleged incidents of illegal shooting of raptors, it also had a number of significant limitations, namely the fact that many incidents of abuse tended to take place in the mornings which were not covered by the curfew; that the curfew did not address the fundamental root causes of abuse and as such it was not directly related to strengthening enforcement .

The curfew had been been heavily criticised by the representatives of the hunters, who claimed discrimination. "Due to the actions of a few poachers, the measure is seen as unjustly depriving law-abiding hunting community from practicing its legitimate pursuit during what is deemed to be an already severely limited season. The Government believes that the criticism levelled at the “curfew” is legitimate and required serious consideration", the secretariat said.

"The efficacy of the “curfew” was discussed from multiple angles at the last three Malta Ornis Committee meetings. Although at the Committee failed to make a concrete recommendation as to the precise parameters that the measure should take, the Committee was clear in voting down the proposal to scrap the “curfew” altogether, or to retain the curfew in its present form, namely from 3pm onwards between 15th and 30th of September.

"In view of these considerations, the Government had to make a decision that would, on the one hand, seek to address the legitimate concerns of the hunting community, whilst on the other hand – recognise and address the concerns expressed by Birdlife (Malta). For this reason, the Government decided on a balanced solution which would:

"Extend the period of the “curfew” by seven additional days to 7th October, thus addressing Birdlife (Malta)’s concerns that the passage of raptors continues well into the first week of October;Reduce applicability of the “curfew” to 7pm onwards, which would partially address hunters’ concerns, whilst at the same time continue to protect birds of prey settling to roost in the evening;Increase enforcement presence in the field during the entire period from 15th September to 7th October up to the levels comparable with those implemented during Spring hunting derogation, which would address the fundamental concern of increasing enforcement, and should thus be seen as a positive and proactive measure rather than a negative and reactive one such as in the case of simply restricting the hunting hours."

HUNTERS' STATEMENT

The FKNK will support Government’s first step towards gradually eliminating a curfew that was unilaterally imposed during such season- FKNK

The Federation for Hunting and Conservation in a statement stressed that it was immensely important that  protected birds were not targeted by the irresponsible minority.

It urged its members and the public to report abuses to the Police on telephone no 21224001 or on hotline 112.

"The FKNK also reiterates that it will not tolerate any abuses and will revoke the membership of any of its members found guilty of poaching any protected birds."

With regard to the curfew, the federation said that despite the fact that legal hunters are being unnecessarily restricted during a perfectly legal hunting season, it would support the Government’s first step towards gradually eliminating a curfew 'that was unilaterally imposed during such season and that only served to reduce the number of legal hunters out in the field who thus deter poachers.'