Conservationists are urging the government not to open the trapping season in October and to respect the sentiment of a recent European Court of Justice ruling on the matter.
BirdLife Malta said on Tuesday that it hoped the government would decide against allowing the trapping of the song thrush and golden plover.
The Times of Malta reported last week that the government’s consultative Ornis committee had recommended an autumn trapping season be opened for the two species, which are not protected.
The decision came just a month after the Luxembourg court ruled that Malta was violating EU rules by allowing the trapping of protected finches. The island has regularly implemented two derogations (legal exceptions) from the EU’s Birds Directive, thus allowing the trapping of finches, song thrushes and golden plovers.
Both exemptions have long been subject to EU infringement proceedings, and while the Commission took Malta to court for finch trapping, legal action on the other exemption remained on the back burner.
Other protected birds of the same size or larger could still be caught in larger mesh that FKNK suggested
BirdLife, which is represented on the Ornis committee, said it had been the only organisation to vote against the derogation allowing trapping. It said that, during a meeting last week, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit briefed the committee about the Attorney General’s opinion on the matter.
According to BirdLife, the Attorney General identified various “risks” to opening a trapping season following the European Court’s judgment.
Among other things, the EU court concluded that the use of clap-nets was not a selective means of capture. In a bid to tackle this, the hunters’ federation, FKNK, recommended the use of a larger mesh size for golden plovers and song thrushes than that normally used for protected finches.
BirdLife warned that increasing mesh size to avoid the capture of smaller birds would still not eliminate the issue of selectivity because other protected birds of the same size or larger could still be caught in the process.
BirdLife also said the Environment & Resources Authority had expressed concern over the number of nets that would be used during the season, which the court also identified as a source of bycatch. While the FKNK is recommending that nets be covered during the night, the environmentalist NGO was sceptical such a measure would be sufficient.
The Times of Malta reported on Tuesday that Malta was likely to be taken to court again if it went ahead and opened the trapping season in October.
If the government decided to open the season, court proceedings would almost certainly follow “immediately after”, European Commission sources said.