Raphael Vassallo Malta is risking new infringement procedures over hunting and trapping, after the Ornis Committee this week announced dates for the “taking” of turtledove (gamiem), quail (summien), thrush (malvizz), and golden plover (pluviera) – despite the fact that trapping is now illegal.
The “taking of birds” is the legal term used in Maltese law, but the government is clearly interpreting this word to refer to trapping.
But the EU’s Birds Directive prohibits the use of nets, clap traps and decoy birds for capturing birds, rendering any trapping unworkable in practice, and therefore also illegal.
Nonetheless, dates for the new trapping seasons were set for 1 September to 30 October for turtledove and quail, and between 20 October and 10 January for thrush and plover.
Adding to this confusion is a call from government, inviting trappers to submit information to compile a register of local trapping sites, further compounding the impression that some form of trapping may be permissible in the context of EU membership.
The government invited “trappers wishing to benefit from the derogation on trapping” to call at police stations with their Carnet de Chasse to pay their licence.
Government’s interpretation of the “taking of birds” is being challenged by BirdLife Malta. The NGO argues that only an estimated 500 of Malta’s 4,000 registered trappers were licensed to take the abovementioned four species in the first place.
The rest were licensed to trap the seven species of wild finch – including greenfinch, goldfinch and chaffinch – as agreed in the four-year transitional period, secured during accession negotiations, which expired on 31 December, 2008.
Trapping is now illegal in all its forms, and BirdLife Malta questions the motives behind government’s application for a “new” derogation.
Government is claiming it is applying a derogation from the Birds Directive, but BirdLife says the government must submit a justificatory report to the European Commission on the derogation.
In comments to MaltaToday, president Joseph Muscat hinted that trappers were likely to take advantage of the new regulations to simply carry on with their previous pastime of trapping wild finches, regardless of European law.
“There is no negotiated agreement regarding turtledove, quail, song thrush and golden plover,” Mangion said. “The only agreement was for a transitional period for the trapping of seven species of finches, and this expired at the end of 2008.”
BirdLife’s executive director Tolga Temuge also warned that the new trapping seasons could precipitate further action against Malta in the European Court of Justice.
“To apply a derogation for the trapping of these four species, the Commission must be satisfied that no viable alternatives exist, and that the trapping itself is conducted in a controlled and supervised manner,” he told MaltaToday. “To obtain the derogation Malta would have had to submit a detailed report on the status of these species to justify its application. BirdLife has officially requested a copy of this report from the Ornis Committee, but to no avail so far.”
However, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, through an OPM official, remains adamant that “the derogation applied for the trapping of the turtledove, song thrush, quail and golden plover is in line with the Birds Directive.”
Gonzi also confirms that an official register of trapping sites is now concluded, “and the European Commission has been informed accordingly.”
Along with a captive breeding programme, this register of trapping sites was one of the original conditions for the transitional period for finch trapping. But with the transitional period now expired, it remains unclear exactly why the government has pressed ahead with this aspect of its accession obligations.
Enforcement is another issue of concern to wildlife conservationists, as there appears to be no corresponding change in the current set-up of the Administrative Law Enforcement agency (ALE): raising doubts about whether the police have the necessary resources to monitor all local trapping sites, on top of their other responsibilities.
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