The hunters’ federation (FKNK) said this afternoon that approval of the derogation on the trapping of finches  by the European Commission would not be easy and it could even lead to long-term conflicts because of the unfair criticism made against Malta by a number of persons and entities.

It was therefore putting its resources and experience at the government’s disposal to ensure that the derogation was correctly applied in terms of the Birds Directive as was already being done for the trapping of Golden Plover and Song Thrush.

In this way, the federation said, the trappers would no longer be denied the rights they had under the directive.

The Ornis Committee yesterday recommended to the government that the trapping of seven species of finches should be allowed in the Autumn through a derogation from the Birds Directive.

The FKNK said it had been seeking this derogation since 2009 .

Yesterday’s decision, it said, was reached after independent scientific and legal studies by the Wild Birds Regulations unit on the basis of the proposal which the federation had made.

As a result, detailed and serious reports had been produced.