A plan to deploy up to 200 hunters to deter illegal hunting has been shot down by BirdLife Malta and staunchly defended by the hunters' federation.

BirdLife feels it would give hunters too much power and lead to under-reporting of illegal hunting while the federation argues that the voluntary wardens would cut the chances of rogue shooting taking place.

An Ornis committee member last week proposed the setting up of a self-regulating system to monitor illegal hunting.

The "voluntary warden" hunters, explained Henry Fenech Azzopardi, could practise their hobby alongside their counterparts and act as a deterrent against illegal activity, similar to the way traffic wardens deterred traffic contraventions.

The Federation of Hunters, Trappers and Conservationists (FKNK) has now issued a call for applications for voluntary wardens and expects the system to be in place by January. The idea is for wardens to report any form of abuse to the police straightaway. BirdLife is highly suspicious of the plan, however, saying it would allow hunters take the law into their own hands.

Its president, Joseph Mangion, said all law-abiding hunters, and not only 200 of them, already had a responsibility to report all illegal hunting to the police. Such a set-up was very similar to one proposed in 2007 and rejected by the Attorney General because it left too much discretion in the hands of people who had to be regulated, he added.

Hunters, he warned, would under-report illegal hunting by being in control of law enforcement in the hope of re-opening spring hunting.

FKNK president Joseph Buttigieg denied that the self-monitoring system would lead to abuse and said he was confident of its success. A similar system was in place in Cyprus, with hunters acting as marshals. It worked there, so it should work here, he insisted. "They are trying to criticise something positive. We're not trying to take the law in our own hands," he maintained.