Anti-spring hunting campaigners will respect a Yes result in the referendum but this will not stop them from telling people spring hunting is unsustainable, according to Mark Sultana.

The SHout campaigner yesterday said the individual organisations within the movement will continue with their work for the environment after the April 11 vote.

“The arguments and processes to inform people of how unsustainable hunting in spring is will continue,” Mr Sultana said when asked how the SHout campaign will react if hunters get their way.

Mr Sultana was being questioned on TVM by a panel of journalists as part of the Broadcasting Authority scheme of broadcasts for the referendum.

Everybody knows the numbers of shot birds reported by hunters are false

Asked by Times of Malta whether SHout will respect the referendum result if the opposing Yes vote triumphed, Mr Sultana said: “We will respect the result and we would have to analyse why people voted Yes; but the fact remains that for the first time an environmental issue would have been elevated on a pedestal and the people were given the chance to decide for themselves.”

Mr Sultana stressed the importance for people to go out and vote, insisting the referendum was the highest form of democratic expression. He said people were not simply being consulted through the vote but were empowered to decide the issue – a No vote will automatically abolish the law that makes spring hunting possible.

He said the No campaign was worried about voter apathy and repeatedly urged people to pick up their vote.

Mr Sultana defended the SHout campaign’s argument that spring hunting was unsustainable, insisting the European Court of Justice decision of 2009, which provided a window of opportunity for a controlled spring hunting season, was based on fallacious arguments put forward by hunters.

The special case that was argued for Malta by the government was based on figures of birds shot in autumn as reported by hunters, Mr Sultana said.

“Everybody knows the numbers of shot birds reported by hunters are false. From 45,000 quails reported to have migrated over Malta, hunters only shot 1,600... this is unbelievable,” Mr Sultana said.

He insisted scientific facts showed that the population of turtle doves across Europe was decreasing and killing birds on their way to their breeding grounds was unsustainable in its own right.

Mr Sultana said a No vote would enable people to reclaim the countryside in spring without the fear of being confronted by hunters with guns.

Abolishing spring hunting, he added, would make it easier to enforce the law against poachers.

kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com