The publication by BirdLife Malta of details from a confidential agenda of the Malta Ornis Committee has been criticised by the Federation for Hunting and Conservation.

In a statement, the FKNK said it deplored and condemned BirdLife’s move, made to manipulate public opinion and influence the deliberations of the committee, which as currently examining FKNK’s proposals for hunting and trapping of the turtle dove and the quail in April/May.

The committee will then submit its recommendations to the Prime Minister.

“We restrict our public comments to rebutting the statements made by BLM’s executive director, Tolge Temuge, who mainly objected to the federation's technical definition of the two hunted species, and insisted that this was scientifically and legally incorrect.”

The FKNK said that even the European Court of Justice had declared that it was not apparent that the population of the two species was below a satisfactory level.

The FKNK said its proposals to the committee addressed the main points of the ECJ ruling, namely, the disproportionately-long hunting period, the inequitable ratios of the spring-to-autumn harvests, the ‘small numbers’ principle, and the condition of strict supervision, as well as other ancillary matters.

Taking fully into account the deliberations and ruling of the ECJ, the calculations in the FKNK proposals were based on hard facts and statistics obtained from BirdLife International’s records, and other official sources, accessible to all.

“Consequently, we trust that the MOC will not be influenced by desperate last-minute attempts in the media aimed at confusing the issue,” the FKNK said.