The Ornis committee has recommended a three-week spring hunting season, Times of Malta has learnt.

Sources said the recommendation to the government was for the spring hunting season to open as it did last year.

Ornis makes recommendations to the government on the opening of the hunting seasons. It does not have an executive role.

A final decision on its suggestion has still to be taken by the government.

BirdLife last night slammed the Ornis recommendation, blaming it on the political bias of the committee’s three government representatives.

The NGO said it had presented the committee with overwhelming evidence of unchecked abuse and misreporting of data by hunters during spring seasons.

Last year, the spring season was open for three weeks, from April 10 to 30.

The autumn hunting season did not provide a satisfactory alternative for the hunting of turtledoves and quail

Spring hunting is not allowed in the EU but is made possible in Malta through a derogation of the EU Birds Directive.

Hunting can take place in spring for turtledove (gamiema) and quail (summiena) but both have become species of conservation concern because their numbers are declining so rapidly in Europe, the Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting says. Continued hunting in spring put Malta at risk of action, such as fines, by the EU.

The European Court of Justice had said in a ruling on Malta that the autumn hunting season did not provide a satisfactory alternative for the hunting of turtledoves and quail, giving hunters the possibility to enjoy a limited season in spring.

The coalition is collecting signatures for a petition calling for the holding of a referendum for the abolition of spring hunting.

Meanwhile, BirdLife said it had set up an overnight watch on two injured Eurasian spoonbills shot by illegal hunters flying in from the south in the afternoon.