Bird trappers are complaining about the regulations being imposed on them just a week after the government announced it had held lengthy negotiations with Brussels to find a way to open the controversial season.
In a statement on Friday, the hunters’ federation FKNK said that four issues surrounding the season were of "major concern" for its members and it would be taking legal measures to address them.
The government announced the reopening of the controversial autumn trapping season following ‘hushed’ negotiations with Brussels earlier this month.
The trapping deal came just four months after the European Court of Justice declared that the practice of trapping another species – protected finches – was illegal.
Watch: 'Don't let me down', junior minister tells trappers as autumn season is announced
The government’s consultative Ornis committee had recommended that the authorities amend regulations to forbid trapping nets with holes smaller than 45mm, which offered a backdoor to allow trapping for other birds to continue.
Nets traditionally used to capture protected finches normally have 30mm-wide holes and were singled out in the court ruling.
The FKNK, however, said on Friday that while it welcomed the reopening of the trapping season and acknowledged the effort government officials had put in, the new net sizes did not work.
The federation said it had proposed that the minimum net mesh size be set at 32mm as was done in Italy. The government had, however, gone ahead with a mesh size of 45mm, which the FKNK said a song thrush could easily slip-through.
“In fact, at present, the FKNK is receiving several complaints from most of its trapper members who have paid the respective license, who have constantly failed to realise capture, to the extent that some of them have even packed-up,” the statement read.
The FKNK also took umbrage with the involvement on conservationists in the policing of the season, saying the introduction of this regulation was "unjust".
Investigations, the FKNK said, could potentially be biased if they involved the active participation of NGOs which had declared “on numerous occasions that their aim is to #STOPTRAPPINGNOW”.
This amendment had been a long-time desire of both BirdLife, and German-based CABS, the FKNK said.
Thirdly, the FKNK said it could not understand why information from trapping stations was now public.
This had already been the subject of a 2016 request by Birdlife Malta to the Data Protection Commissioner, and was rejected.
The FKNK said it would be doing its utmost to address these new legal amendments, including writing to Brussels.