The hunters’ federation has slammed the Opinion of the Advocate General of the European Court of Justice on finch trapping in Malta, describing it as “unjust, discriminatory and mistaken.”
The FKNK said the Opinion delivered last week contained factual errors, ignored the Maltese government’s detailed defence of the practice and treated the island differently to other European states where trapping is permitted.
Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston said last week she was “entirely convinced” that Malta’s finch trapping season did not respect the country’s obligations under the Wild Birds Directive.
READ: Bird trapping 'breaches EU law' - ECJ prosecution
The Court of Justice of the EU will now deliver a verdict on the basis of the non-binding Opinion in the coming months, potentially spelling an end to the controversial practice.
Addressing a press conference today, FKNK representative Raymond Cordina said: “Our disappointment is not based on the AG’s conclusions but on the reasoning she employs, which failed to address Malta’s defence of trapping on technical, scientific, legal and enforcement grounds.”
Mr Cordina said other countries in the EU – such as Austria, where a particular form of trapping is protected by Unesco – were permitted to trap the same species, using the same traditional nets, as Maltese trappers.
Why should there be all these obstacles to Malta applying a derogation to protect its traditions when, every year, other member states apply more than 5,000 derogations from the Birds Directive?
“Why should there be all these obstacles to Malta applying a derogation to protect its traditions when, every year, other member states apply more than 5,000 derogations from the Birds Directive?”
The AG, Mr Cordina said, had ignored the “massive” and “meticulous” contribution prepared by the Wild Bird Regulation Unit (WBRU) as part of Malta’s defence.
“This work amply proves the sustainability of the practice and the legality of the derogation,” he said. “We are not here talking about spring hunting or vulnerable species; all the birds in question have a good conservation status and are not unsustainably affected by Maltese trappers.”
Mr Cordina added that the AG had “mistakenly” used similar calculations as those by Birdlife Malta to suggest that as many as 40,000 birds could be trapped each season (based on 4,000 hunters with a limit of 10 birds each), ignoring the national bag limit of 27,000.
We are not here talking about spring hunting or vulnerable species; all the birds in question have a good conservation status and are not unsustainably affected by Maltese trappers
The FKNK also took particular exception to an analogy drawn by the AG to the hypothetical case of a country making traditional necklaces out of bird feathers, used to explore whether there existed a satisfactory alternative to Malta’s trapping tradition.
This analogy, the FKNK said, was intended to make trappers seem like a “third-world tribe” and question the country’s place in the EU.