Labour MP Marlene Farrugia indicated this morning that she is against spring hunting, saying she is in favour of sustainable hunting and not hunting while birds are  migrating to breed.

In a Facebook post she said Maltese hunters should enjoy the same rights as their European counterparts but she was against the hunting of birds while they were migrating to breed. 

The derogation to allow spring hunting had been used by successive governments as a carrot to keep hunters on their side. Otherwise the derogation was used to collected a tax in the form of fines of a selected number of people, she said.

The derogation was also used for the hunters to be psychologically abused by the government, as happened last year, and also to continue to raise sentiment against hunters. 

Dr Farrugia said the wanted hunters to be able to hunt in peace of mind when sustainability was not threatened. 

She was fed up of seeing families burdened by fines and other hunters shattered when the season was closed because somebody abused and they were all blamed.

So far, she said, no government had shown enough seriousness to ensure that hunting was sustainable.