NEWS | Wednesday, 04 March 2009

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Government has not yet made trapping illegal despite EU ban

Matthew Vella
BirdLife Malta yesterday distributed photos and footage showing trapping sites across Malta being readied for another trapping season as the finch spring migration begins.
“Despite the Accession Treaty agreement forbidding trapping beyond 2009, which Malta signed before it joined the EU, nets are still being set in place and vegetation is being cleared,” campaign coordinator Geoffrey Saliba said.
Trapping sites were observed in various stages of preparation by BirdLife field workers, and photographic and video evidence was collected. The incidents were described as ‘widespread’ and include sites in Delimara, Maghtab, Mizieb, Dingli cliffs and Majjistral National Park. Prepared sites have also been located in Gozo.
The organisation said the scenario is a repeat of 2008, when illegal trapping was widespread despite a ban on spring trapping.
BirdLife are currently involved in an anti-trapping campaign partly funded by the EU’s Life project to remind people that trapping is now illegal.
But the hunters’ federation (FKNK) is also embarking on its own campaign, seemingly to remind trappers that trapping is still legal in four EU member states.
Asked whether this was confusing trappers when trapping is now banned by the EU, FKNK secretary-general Lino Farrugia acknowledged that trapping was forbidden.
“We are asking why trapping is banned in Malta when this is permitted in four countries. We have made our proposals on this matter to Ornis and they are being seriously considered. If trappers are laying their nets but they are not trapping, I cannot just tell them to stop if they are not breaking the law,” Farrugia said.
The government has so far not opened the trapping season, but it has also not changed the national legislation to ban trapping in Malta.
BirdLife said trappers were recorded preparing sites by clearing vegetation, to prevent nets from snagging or tearing; using both chemicals and gardening tools, and re-building or extending their trapping hides.
Last weekend BirdLife staff filmed a person clearing vegetation on a trapping site at Maghtab, where two other nearby trapping sites were found to be active, with new clap nets laid out on the ground. In Mellieha, a hide was photographed being enlarged through the addition of an adjoining room. This brick room, in its first stages of construction, is being built on garigue land. At Mizieb, several freshly cleared trapping sites were photographed within the woodland.
“The Accession Treaty Agreement Malta signed in 2004 clearly states that trapping cannot continue. The government has so far not opened the trapping season, but it has also not changed the national legislation to ban trapping in Malta,” Geoffrey Saliba said. “This inaction from the government is leading some trappers to hope for the season to be opened.”
BirdLife also stated that nets have been laid out at multiple sites across the islands.
The Administrative Law Enforcement unit have been actively removing nets reported by BirdLife and members of the public, with action taken at Delimara, Dingli cliffs, Majjistral National Park and Maghtab. As well as making it easier for trappers to illegally operate their sites, unattended nets pose a danger to wildlife as birds and other animals such as snakes can get caught and die tangled in the nets. In the last few weeks, dead birds have been recorded entangled at several sites with unattended nets in both Malta and Gozo.
“It is clear that many trappers are either unaware of the Agreement signed with the EU, or unwilling to respect it. As the person in charge of the environment, the Prime Minister needs to communicate the government’s position on trapping, and make the necessary changes to the national legislation to ban trapping in line with the Accession Treaty Agreement. The ALE also need to be given sufficient resources to cope with the increased illegal activity we can expect to see in the coming weeks,” Saliba said.

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