News | Sunday, 06 December 2009

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Illegal trapping persists under ‘veil of legality’

RAPHAEL VASSALLO

Finch trapping, supposedly phased out under EU law at the end of 2008, was still widespread in various parts of the island throughout the 2009 autumn season – with some trappers reportedly availing of an EU derogation for four different (legal) species, in order to camouflage their illegal finch-trapping activities.
According to photographic evidence collated by BirdLife Malta in recent months, many of the 1,200+ trappers who applied this year to trap Common quail (summien), Song thrush (malvizz), Golden plover (pluvier) and Turtle dove (gamiem), are in fact using their licences to illegally trap finches (ghasafar tal-ghana) instead.
Evidence of widespread illegal trapping includes aerial photography showing the sheer density of trapping sites hugging the southern and western coasts of Malta – often on protected landscape such as garigue (xaghri). Elsewhere, other individual details suggest that the sites are not being used for the purposes for which they are licensed.
These include mismatches between the targeted species and the mesh-size of the nets used: for instance, trappers supposedly targeting Golden plover have been observed using illegal 30mm nets... useless for plover, ideal for much smaller birds such as finches.
In addition, live finch decoys have been spotted alongside Song thrush decoys, on sites supposedly targeting the latter, permissible species.
“This year we have seen a lot of evidence that some trappers are clearly targeting finches, despite the fact that finch trapping is now illegal,” BirdLife executive director Tolga Temuge told MaltaToday. “This is not the case with all trappers – some of whom are legitimately targeting the permissible species – but there was clearly a lot of illegal trapping going on this season.”
Temuge added that the police’s Administrative Law Enforcement agency has tried to take action to control these activities; but as a rule, trappers tend to be well-organised, and communicate with each other via radio or mobile phone to avoid detection.
“What we have often seen happening is that, whenever there is ALE presence in the area, trappers will alert each other, collect their finch decoys and then hide them, leaving only the legal song thrush decoys visible.”
It is debatable whether individual ALE officers – of whom there are only 28 to monitor the activities of an estimated 13,000 hunters and trappers in Malta and Gozo – are trained to tell the difference between the birdcalls of the different species concerned. Either way, Temuge acknowledges that the police are hampered in their efforts by limited resources.
“How can the ALE be expected to monitor the entire countryside with only two vehicles at its disposal?” he asked. Ironically, on this issue alone, BirdLife Malta enjoys the support of the hunters’ and trappers’ own federation, which also argues in favour of a beefed-up Wildlife Crime Unit.
This issue of law enforcement assumes even greater relevance when one considers that the government’s declared intention to apply a derogation from the EU’s Birds Directive for the above-mentioned four species – and possibly also for a future spring hunting season, should the government decide to open the season next year – would rely heavily on the “strict supervision” of hunting and trapping activities.
“At present there is no adequate system in place to ‘strictly supervise’ local trapping,” Temuge said. “I can’t see how it is possible to argue that Malta meets the conditions for a derogation, when the situation is clearly unmonitored.”

Environmental damage
Apart from illegal finch trapping, ancillary environmental issues connected with trapping include the damage unwittingly caused by trappers during site preparation, which involves clearing vegetation, and at times scouring the land surface to make it level.
In some cases, this takes place even on protected landscape such as garigue – the natural habitat of a considerable portion of Malta’s wildlife. One particular stretch of garigue in the vicinity of Dwejra (Malta), pictured above, appears to have recently been levelled to make way for a large trapping site.
Another issue involves the accidental by-catch of other, untargeted species – mostly reptiles.
Furthermore, Temuge expressed BirdLife’s concern that in some cases, trapping sites on arable land may have been leased directly from government – in which case, the lease condition would specify that the land in question must be used for agricultural purposes.
“If the land is privately owned, it’s another matter altogether. But it is illegal to lease arable land and use it for non-agricultural purposes.”
Significantly, it seems the Lands Department has not to date confirmed whether certain ‘dubious’ trapping sites are in fact occupying public land.
“We have for several months now been waiting for replies from the Lands Department regarding whether certain sites have been leased from government. So far we have not received any replies,” Temuge said.
rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt

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