Joe Sultana (The Sunday Times, December 27) gave his version of bird-ringing, saying that Malta's 40-year bird-ringing scheme netted over 439,000 birds, equivalent to the 15-odd licensed bird-ringers netting about 733 birds each annually, of which only an insignificant few were finches.
By contrast, Malta's 4,000-odd trappers net about 22 finches each per annum (NSO 2004 study). This means that the traditional method of finch-capturing used by trappers is much more effective and selective; and the trappers are much better placed to "contribute an invaluable amount of knowledge on bird behaviour and population size".
The new bird-ringing scheme, proposed by the FKNK, involving wild birds netted in the traditional manner, ringed and then released, is based on that factor.
Mr Sultana and Birdlife Malta refuse to acknowledge that the current knowledge about the migrating finch species can be improved only through the trappers' combined efforts.
We welcome Mr Sultana's statement that the EURING organisation coordinates bird-ringing schemes, because his clarification dispels the wrong perception, locally prevalent, that this organisation is some parent bird-ringing scheme itself. The fact is that other bird-ringing schemes have a right to exist, even if not recognised by EURING. There is nothing to prevent such schemes from being scientific and contributing to a better knowledge of finch migration and population dynamics.
The regulations exclude hunters and/or trappers from getting bird-ringing licences, and guarantee a bird-ringing monopoly to Birdlife. If the Maltese authorities are genuinely interested in enriching our knowledge of bird behaviour, migration patterns and population size of wild finches occurring over these islands, they should take a stand against Birdlife's bird-ringing monopoly.
The FKNK proposals are intended to provide a needed supplement that will fill the lacuna in scientific knowledge of the seven finch migratory species. The local trappers can, and are willing to, contribute substantially to such wild-finch studies through the FKNK finch capturing-and-release scheme. Additionally, the scheme would enable them to retain their life-long traditional passion of finch-capturing.