A juvenile Marsh Harrier, a protected species, targeted during the last spring hunting season – protected birds are not included in official figures.A juvenile Marsh Harrier, a protected species, targeted during the last spring hunting season – protected birds are not included in official figures.

Records of shot turtle dove have more than doubled since the government unit regulating hunting introduced fines to ensure the return of booklets registering shot birds in the autumn season.

The new rules were introduced in 2013 to ensure hunters returned their booklet (Carnet de Chasse) on which official records are based. If not returned after the autumn hunting season, hunters would incur a fine and be denied a spring hunting licence.

Hunting figures shot up between 2012 and 2013, figures seen by The Sunday Times of Malta show. As well as a 117 per cent increase in shot turtle dove, there was a 16 per cent increase in the number of quail shot, according to official figures.

For autumn 2013, hunters declared shooting a total of 8,023 turtle dove and 4,926 quail. The previous year, hunters declared shooting 3,696 turtle dove and 4,262 quail.

There was no recorded significant difference in the influx in bird migration between the two years reported in any official analysis.


73%

– of hunters still say they did not shoot a single bird.


National reports sent to the European Commission on hunting in Malta are entirely based on the Carnets de Chasse and SMS reporting of birds shot. If hunters fail to declare their kills, official records are misleading. Yet, it may still reflect under-reporting, since 73 per cent of 10,517 hunters who returned the Carnets de Chasse for the 2013 autumn season said they did not shoot a single turtle dove or quail, according to the government report.

The number of birds shot in the autumn season is important because the annual spring hunting derogation (exemption) from the EU Birds Directive has been justified because of what hunters claim to be the low numbers of turtle doves and quail killed in autumn.

In the last spring hunting season, hunters declared catching a total of 4,131 turtle dove and 637 quail. Figures therefore show that more birds were shot in spring 2014 than the previous autumn season.

Official figures depend on hunters honestly self-reporting their kills. Last April, The Sunday Times of Malta showed that reports to the European Commission on the spring hunting derogation over the last three years consistently indicated a spike in hunters’ SMS reports in the last three days of the season. This raised concerns on the data validity, based on the suspicion that hunters were not reporting shot birds early in the season to avoid quotas being reached.

The EU noted this in a 2005 report when it said the accuracy of the completed Carnets de Chasse is “unverified and open to question”.

Since then, the government said it deployed “one of the most elaborate and rigorous hunting bag verification and control regimes anywhere in Europe”. Yet the data still depends on what each hunter reports.

The deadline for hunters to return their Carnets de Chasse for last year’s autumn hunting season expired last Friday. Figures are expected early next month.

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