The European Court of Justice ruled that the conservation status of the two species hunted in spring is of “least concern”.

This classification was derived from Birdlife International assessments that noted: “Despite the fact that the population trend appears to be decreasing, the decline is not believed to be sufficiently rapid to approach the thresholds for vulnerable.”

Sustainable hunting can be practised in the case of birds classified as “least concern”.

The Birds Directive requires small numbers for hunting quotas under derogation to be quantified on the populations “occurring in the territory to which the derogation applies at the time when the taking takes place”. For this purpose the government took into consideration the records of birds ringed by Birdlife Malta.

For turtle doves, Birdlife Malta shows records of birds originating from eight European states. According to Birdlife International assessments, two show an increase in bird numbers, four are stable and two show a decline. Those for quail refer to two EU states, one of which is stable, the other unknown.

The perception depicted by members of SHOUT, that a decline should preclude use of a derogation, is a travesty of the truth meant to influence the uninformed public.

Hunting in Malta falls under the strict scrutiny of the European Commission that unhesitatingly suspended spring hunting when contesting its legality in 2007 and will not hesitate to repeat its action. Its objections, among which is the current decline, were clarified by the ECJ.

These two regulatory bodies are far more authoritative on the justification of derogation in spring than the SHOUT spokesmen who attempt to undermine European directives with the aim of banning legal spring hunting.

I have full faith in these institutions and see no reason why anyone should believe all the deceitful SHOUT propaganda being used to influence voters.