(Adds BirdLife's reaction)
The hunters federation (FKNK) in a report to the European Commission has praised hunters for having in their vast majority, respected the conditions imposed during the three week spring-hunting season.
Hunting of turtle doves and quails was allowed between April 13 and 30 after the government applied a derogation in terms of article 9 of the "Birds" Directive.
Out of an eligible 12,300 hunters, 5610 made use of the relative special licence. The FKNK monitored the situation on the ground.
It noted that police reports had recorded just 50 infringements by the 5,610 hunters who hunted during the three-week open season, just 0.9% of the spring hunters.
Out of the 1,665 spot checks carried out by the police, 1,595 investigations found everything in order.
"Furthermore, the unequivocal fact that was clearly evident during the derogated period is that the presence of over 5,000 law-abiding hunters in the field was the best deterrent against illegal activities," the federation said.
The FKNK expressed satisfaction that the conditions of the derogation were observed, and that the overwhelming majority of the licensed hunters behaved in an exemplary manner.
It said it was also very pleased that personalities known in ornithological circles had witnessed "the great and tangible improvements in the hunting process during the derogation period, and in particular that the specific and more delicate issue regarding the exercise of 'strict control' were observed."
The federation said it disagreed with certain impositions of the derogation that unnecessarily hindered the attainment of a complete satisfactory alternative solution to autumn hunting. It said it would continue to seek redress on those vexatious issues.
ANALYSIS EXTREMELY SELECTIVE - BIRDLIFE
In a reaction, BirdLife said that the FKNK only considered the charges being pressed by the police, based on a police document presented to the Ornis Committee in May.
"The police document does not include details for any other illegalities that the police investigated, witnessed, or ongoing police investigations.
"Furthermore the FKNK base their statement solely on the number of spot checks carried out by police, failing to take into consideration police investigations into shooting at protected species, night shooting, reports by members of the public, shot protected birds received by the police, and a whole host of other illegalities.
“We are looking at an analysis which is extremely selective about which illegalities to consider, presenting a scandalously distorted picture of this year’s spring hunting derogation,” Paul Debono, BirdLife Malta executive director said.
He said that in the first days of the spring hunting season the FKNK successfully lobbied the authorities to drop charges, and return shotguns and ammunition to hunters apprehended by the police for not complying with hunting regulations. These were yet more infringements not included in the FKNK analysis.
BirdLife said that during the spring hunting season BirdLife Malta and CABS recorded nearly 950 shots outside hunting hours and 61 protected birds being shot at. The organisations jointly received 22 shot protected birds and recorded 52 protected birds with gunshot injuries in flight. Illegal hunters were apprehended in only a handful of these illegal incidents, it said.
ENDS