Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella is being taken to task for his comments on TV last week where he said the European Commission did not ban trapping.
Mr Vella told PBS news that the question was not whether Maltese trappers could trap birds, but how this was done and how many birds were caught.
“The European Commission does not ban trapping, so they [Maltese trappers] have a right to trap birds. But this has to be done under certain conditions. The directive needs to be obeyed,” the Commissioner said.
This was an incorrect interpretation of the Birds Directive, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter said. “The use of clap nets as well as the hunting or trapping of finches is a breach of articles five, six, seven and eight of the Birds Directive,” Axel Hirshfeld said.
In Annex four, the directive also clearly refers to “nets, traps, poisoned or anaesthetic bait” that cannot be used.
Mr Hirshfeld added: “The Commission takes appropriate steps if the consequences of a derogation are not compatible with the directive, which is the case here.”
The Commission announced last month that it had referred Malta to the EU’s Court of Justice over the government’s decision to allow finch trapping. Such trapping was phased out in 2009 in line with Malta’s EU accession treaty but reintroduced last year. Member states may apply for a derogation to allow bird trapping, but this is an exemption from the law precisely because the capture and possession of the seven finch species targeted is prohibited under the Birds Directive.
The exemption is only accepted if it is implemented because of a lack of alternative solutions, which is what the Commission is contesting.
“I imagine that the government knows very well that the chances of winning the case are zero and that Malta will be convicted. But maybe their primary goal is to save face with trappers and not to avoid the country being convicted at the ECJ,” Mr Hirshfeld said.
The government said it was evaluating the legal consequences of opening the autumn finch trapping season again this year after the Commission’s referral to the court.
The EC issued a preliminary warning on October 16 of last year, four days before the start of the finch trapping season. The second warning, a reasoned opinion, was issued on May 28.
Malta was given two months to regularise its position. Malta contested the Commission’s analysis, which led to the decision to refer the matter to the court.
Questions sent to the Commissioner’s office were not answered by the time this newspaper went to print.