Nationalist and Labour Party MEP candidates appealed to the hunting and environmental lobbies to find common ground, while insisting the controversial tradition should not be restrained.
At a debate organised by Birdlife on Friday PN candidates Peter Agius and Frank Psaila and PL candidates Alfred Sant and Robert Micallef all adopted a near-identical stance when asked about the spring hunting and finch trapping practices, both under sustained pressure from the EU.
Labour MEP Dr Sant criticised the “crusade to shut down this pastime” and insisted Maltese hunters faced restrictions that did not exist elsewhere, referring to other member states’ derogations from the Birds Directive.
“There has to be a space for the two communities [hunters and environmentalists] to coexist; there is a lot of common ground,” he said.
His views were echoed by the PN’s Dr Agius, who said hunters were facing “unfair restrictions” and that a balance had to be struck between conservation and tradition.
“Nearly all hunters and trappers want the practice to be sustainable and within the bounds of the law, and Birdlife can be at the forefront of pushing this sustainability,” he said, highlighting a proposal by the hunters’ lobby for a turtle dove breeding programme to replace the numbers shot.
His colleague Dr Psaila hit the same notes: a “centuries-long tradition” could not be stopped, hunters should obey the law but should not be deprived of something that brought them joy, the two sides had to “learn to co-exist”.
Smaller parties speak differently
Only the smaller party representatives bucked this trend, with Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Carmel Cacopardo insisting that spring hunting was by definition unsustainable.
“I am not willing to discuss or compromise on this point,” he said. “The derogations that are acceptable are those related to safety, agriculture and research, and it is dishonest to portray the spring hunting derogation in that light.”
PD candidate Anthony Buttigieg was also unequivocal, saying he would work to end spring hunting if elected. Questioned on party leader Godfrey Farrugia’s more sympathetic stance, he countered that the same Dr Farrugia had worked to reduce hunting hours at Majjistral park.
Birdlife CEO Mark Sultana, responding to the candidates’ statements, said the NGO had already agreed to sit down with the hunting lobby to discuss common ground, primarily tackling illegalities.
But he called out the two parties for placing the responsibility on NGOs when, he said, they should be showing the way by working together to ensure genuine protection for the environment.
While dominated by the hunting issue, the debate also touched on questions ranging from emissions and climate change to the protection of ODZ (outside development zone) areas and the Gozo tunnel.
Moderator Nathaniel Attard from Birdlife said the organisation was disappointed that of 41 MEP candidates who had been sent a list of questions about their positions on environmental issues, only six had responded.
Other than those on the panel, only a handful of candidates took up the invitation to attend the debate: AD's Mina Tolu, independent candidate Arnold Cassola, Felix Busuttil (PL), Antoine Borg (independent) and Martin Cauchi Inglott (PD).