The formal notice issued by Brussels yesterday warning Malta to adhere to the ruling by the European Court of Justice on spring hunting received a cool reception from hunters.
“It is still early days to comment,” the president of the hunters’ federation, Joe Perici Calascione said when contacted, insisting it was the government’s job to respond to the European Commission.
On the other hand, the Commission’s notice that it will start infringement proceedings against Malta was welcomed by bird conservationists. The notice challenges the framework legislation adopted by the government this year which would make it possible to open the spring hunting season in the future for a three-week period allowing hunters to shoot 25,000 turtle doves and quails.
“We are unhappy with the framework legislation and are in discussions with the government to achieve a fair deal for everyone,” Mr Perici Calascione said, pointing out the Commission had not yet given a clear interpretation of the word proportionality. He said the federation was conducting its own studies to help the government make a forceful case for spring hunting.
Whether the government will succeed in convincing the Commission still has to be seen but, according to BirdLife Malta, Brussels is obliging Malta to take into consideration the conservation status of the two species in Europe.
“As we have consistently pointed out, it is not the status of the species at an international level that is of importance in this case but its European conservation status,” BirdLife Malta president Joseph Mangion said.
He said the Commission was also obliging Malta to take into consideration the autumn hunting season, during which turtle doves and quails can be shot for a five-month period.
“Data from the carnet de chasse, released by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority recently, shows that, after the ban on spring hunting in 2008, the number of quails shot in autumn equalled those shot the following spring, demonstrating there are sufficient numbers of this species to shoot in autumn,” Mr Mangion said.
If Malta ignores the latest legal action, he pointed out, the Commission could take the country to the European Court of Justice and, if found guilty, fines would apply.
Government’s proposal
Earlier this year the government published a legal notice outlining a framework for allowing a derogation to open a spring hunting season for turtle dove and quail. The legal notice set a quota of 13,000 quails and 12,000 turtle doves with a three-week hunting season in April.
The legal notice outlined the government’s future intentions and did not apply to this year’s spring hunting season, which was curtailed to six days.
The government had said it wanted to seek an agreement with the Commission on its framework proposal before opening a three-week season.
In a ruling delivered in 2009, the European Court of Justice left a window open for the possibility of a limited spring hunting season since autumn was not considered to be a satisfactory alternative. However, the court judgment was open to interpretation because it did not define how limited the season had to be.