A study requested by Brussels to monitor bird migration during the spring hunting season missed its deadline because the planning authority asked for quotations two days after the season opened, The Times reported today.
Mepa in a reaction later defended itself, saying that time constraints for the commissioning of this scientific study were very tight, and the independent expertise and resources available to carry out such a study were limited.
The newspaper said that official communicationshowed that Malta Environment and Planning Authority officials started asking for quotations from parties interested in conducting the study on April 15, two days after the official opening of the hunting season.
The deadline for submissions from interested parties was set for April 20, which means the study had not yet started even though the hunting season was two weeks old.
Mepa’s own terms of reference for the scientific study lay down that monitoring had to be carried out from the start of the spring hunting season on April 13 and continue for two weeks after it ends on April 30.
Environment Protection Directorate head Petra Bianchi admitted there were “some hitches” when asked about the matter yesterday. However, she stopped short of giving any details as to why the regulator did not commission the study in time before the hunting season got under way. “Work is in progress” was her terse reply.
Mepa had to commission an independent scientific study to gather ornithological data and establish the number of turtle doves and quails during the spring migratory period.
According to the study’s terms of reference, monitoring stations had to be set up in Malta, Gozo and Comino and had to operate daily throughout the spring hunting season.
Interested parties had to provide Mepa with a quotation for the cost, the methodology they would use and indicate the earliest day they were ready to start.
The government applied a derogation to open this year’s spring hunting season during which 9,000 turtle doves and 2,500 quails can be shot. Although the European Commission has said the framework legislation governing spring hunting was acceptable, Malta would still have to justify the derogation on a yearly basis.
The study on migration is one of the components the government would have to present to the Commission.
MEPA reaction
In a reaction this afternoon (Saturday) Mepa said that the bird study was intended to monitor the passage of quails and turtle doves over Malta until mid-Ma - during and after the Spring hunting season.
There was no obligation on Malta to conduct such a study, nevertheless it was decided by the government to carry out a study.
Mepa was requested to carry out the study on April 4, six working days before the opening of the hunting season on April 13. It said it immediately began to work on terms of reference for the study, which needed to be outsourced due to its technical nature. Procurement regulations for the commissioning of the study also had to be followed, and the terms of reference were subsequently issued on 15th April.
"Mepa wishes to point out that the time constraints for the commissioning of this scientific study were very tight, and the independent expertise and resources available to carry out such a study are limited."