The German-based conservation organisation CABS said today that the majority of hunters were respecting the spring hunting ban. It said that the ban imposed by the Maltese government had probably contributed to the fact that this year, "much fewer" protected birds returning to their breeding grounds were shot than in previous years.
The CABS Bird Guards left Malta at the weekend after nine days of monitoring bird migration and illegal hunting in spring. The Bird Guards filed official complaints against eight persons who were either observed shooting at protected birds or patrolling the countryside armed with shotguns.
In addition two trapping sites with freshly erected nets were discovered; one near Fort St. Leonardo (Marsascala) and another on Friday some 150 meters below the Red Tower on Marfa Ridge.
The four CABS teams also registered some 354 shots - mainly in the early hours. In comparison the four teams deployed last spring registered 1.350 shots in a nine day period.
"This is a siginificant decrease. It shows that the majority of hunters clearly respect the hunting ban" said CABS President Heinz Schwarze.
"This is an important signal. Whether this was due to weather conditions or a reduced passage of migrant birds, the presence of the Bird Guards or compliance with the law by hunters is not clear. I believe it was a combination of all these factors."
Nonetheless, CABS said, organised gangs of poachers still had a large negative effect on the migrating birds in spring. Within only two days (26.-27 April), CABS teams observed the shooting down of four protected raptors.
Apart from regular verbal abuse and attempts at intimidation aimed at the CABS members there were only two serious incidents during the camp. Last week a poacher fleeing from a CABS team fired a warning shot in their vicinity and on Saturday a team was stalked by a car for almost an hour in the Bahrija area.
"Every time we halted to observe the stalker also stopped behind us and made a call on his mobile", said Mr Schwarze.
"The incident and registration number was reported to the police"
CABS have announced their intention to mount operations again in autumn, this time with a larger team of up to 30 international volunteer activists.