A legally-acceptable formula to allow "limited" spring hunting would not satisfy hunters or environmentalists because the onus for a solution now rests with government, according to a defence lawyer.
After the European Court of Justice ruled against Malta's decision to allow spring hunting between 2004 and 2007, the judgment was hailed as a landmark by Alex Perici Calascione, the hunters' federation lawyer who was also on the Maltese government's defence team.
The ruling established the principle that autumn hunting for quail and turtle dove was not a "satisfactory alternative" to spring hunting, he said, and this opened up the possibility for the government to apply for a derogation under the Birds Directive.
However, the court "wisely" said that spring hunting could not be a free for all, the former Nationalist Party EP election candidate added.
"The government's pre-accession stand has been vindicated but it now has to come up with a satisfactory regime to justify opening the spring hunting season," Dr Perici Calascione said, pointing out that, contrary to popular perception, the court never had the remit to decide whether to ban spring hunting or not.
The solution would probably be a closely-monitored quota, establishing the maximum number of quail and turtle dove that could be shot in spring.
In its reaction to the ECJ ruling on Thursday, the government did not commit itself on a solution but simply said it was examining the judgment to determine what options it had available to open the spring hunting season in a "limited and strict" way.
The prospect was however shot down by Birdlife Malta, which said the government was only trying to give hunters "false hope".
It said the ECJ ruling referred to the number of birds that were reported killed by hunters and found that these were excessive although the figures were "gravely underestimated".
During the court case, Malta presented data showing that 15,000 quails and 32,000 turtle doves were killed in spring. The information was compiled by hunters themselves. In 2005, hunting federation representatives admitted that the figures were "on the low side" because of underreporting by their members.
"Any government initiative to open the spring season would have to keep this in mind. The figures deemed excessive by the ECJ are hardly the numbers hunters can be expected to stick to," a Birdlife spokesman said.
Any option of opening the spring hunting season for a couple of days and allowing some 12,000 hunters to shoot at quail and turtle dove would be in breach of the Birds Directive, he said.
"Any present or future government that risks Malta facing another case at the ECJ on the issue of spring hunting, at the expense of Maltese tax payers and the country's reputation, would have a lot to explain to the country," BirdLife said.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com