The national spring quota for turtle dove has been reduced from the maximum of 11,000 to 5,000 birds, the government said as it announced the reopening of the controversial hunting season from April 17 to 30.

The season was therefore seven days less from the maximum three weeks allowed under the framework regulations.

Permitted hunting hours are being reduced to between two hours before sunrise and until noon on all days, a reduction of two hours each weekday.

Moreover, the national spring quota for turtle dove has been reduced from the maximum of 11,000 to 5,000 birds.

The 5,000 national quota for quail, as well as the individual daily bag limit of two birds and the maximum season’s bag limit per hunter of four birds, will remain unchanged.

The autumn hunting season for turtle dove will be reduced from five months to one month - September. This one month autumn hunting season for turtle dove will be subject to the maximum national quota of 7,000 birds.

Only hunters issued with a special spring hunting license for 2016 will be permitted to hunt turtle dove and quail during this two week spring season.

Eligible hunters may apply for the special spring hunting licence at any MaltaPost branch in Malta and Gozo during normal branch opening hours, March 21 and 30, both dates included. 

A referendum about spring hunting last year was narrowly won by the 'yes' camp.

BIRDLIFE DISAPPOINTED

Birdlife expressed disappointment at the government's decision to open another spring hunting season on turtle doves, when it had documents that indicated this should not take place anymore.

The turtle dove’s status in the past year went from bad to worse and these were now in a vulnerable state with its numbers dropping by 30 per cent in 15 years.

Birdlife stated that when scientific information was neglected year after another and the government took decisions purely on a political basis, the public might need to take decisions.

It insisted that the numbers of birds killed and declared by hunters were far from the truth and measures to ensure quotas were kept were hard to enforce.

Birdlife insisted that spring hunting was unsustainable and that killing birds on their last step from their breeding ground went against the value of conservation.

"Malta remains the only country in the European Union to allow hunting of turtle dove in spring," it said.

FKNK REACTION

The FKNK hunters’ federation said there appeared to be a discrepancy about the number of turtle dove that the scientists of BirdLife International had given the International Union for the Conservation of Nature compared to the figures which EU member states reported to the European Commission.

This situation had been discussed in the past months within the Ornis Committee in Malta and the committee then made its recommendations to the government.

Irrespective of this, the FKNK always argued that any restriction which should have been made to the hunting derogation was made last year.

When one considered that between two million and three million turtle dove were caught every year in Europe, one could only wonder about the fuss being made about the 4,000 which could be caught in Malta.

The FKNK said it had reiterated its proposal for a conservation project for turtle dove.

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