The European Commission today sent Malta a reasoned opinion calling on the country to end finch trapping.
Its call came less than a day after the Ornis Committee last night recommended the opening of the trapping season in autumn.
With five votes in favour, one against and one abstention, the committee agreed to recommend to the government the limited live-capture of seven species of finches next autumn.
The Commission today requested Malta to bring its hunting legislation into line with EU rules on the conservation of wild birds.
The case concerned Malta’s decision to apply a derogation to the EU Birds Directive allowing the trapping of seven species of wild finches as from 2014.
The Commission said member states could derogate from the requirement of strict protection only in the absence of other satisfactory solutions and provided that the population of the species concerned was maintained at a satisfactory level.
As these conditions were not met in this case, the Commission sent a letter of formal notice in October, urging Malta to refrain from finch trapping.
Malta went ahead with the derogation as planned and did not agree with the Commission’s position.
If Malta fails to act on the Commission's reasoned opinion within two months, the case may be referred to the European Court of Justice.
The government said it would continue to argue its case in its reply to the Commission in the coming weeks.
BIRDLIFE URGES GOVERNMENT TO HEED WARNING
Birdlife welcomed the Commission's intervention and called on the government to heed the warning and ban the practice.
It said it was the only member of the Ornis Committee to vote against the opening of the season.
Conservation manager Nicholas Barbara said: “the committee were fully aware of the open EC case against Malta on finch trapping, and so the FKNK, the planning authority and three government-appointed independent members voted to approve finch trapping in full awareness that they were placing the country at risk of a court case in the European Court of Justice. We urge the government to heed the EC’s warning, and ban finch trapping now.”
Birdlife said the Ornis Committee also refused to endorse a limit on the number of trapping licences that could be issued. Mr Barbara said this could see a further increase in the number of trappers, and yet more degradation of land in the countryside for use as trapping sites.
Their recommendation also failed to include provision for better enforcement, after a report released by the government’s Wild Birds Regulation Unit suggested that last autumn’s finch trapping season was rife with false reporting, it said.
The highest declarations of birds caught came on the very last days of the season, when the threat of early closure had passed. But independent studies showed no corresponding increase in the numbers of birds migrating through Malta at that time, Birdlife said.
BirdLife, Mr Barbara said, would continue to put pressure on the government and the Commission to ban finch trapping once and for all.