No response to trappers’ claim that new nets ‘kill plovers’
Raphael Vassallo
New regulation-size trapping nets, introduced earlier this year to minimise by-catch of protected birds such as finches, have injured or killed more than half all Golden plovers (pluviera) caught by Maltese trappers this year, the hunters’ and trappers’ federation FKNK has claimed.
However, an official from the Office of the Prime Minister yesterday confirmed that the FKNK’s request for a meeting over this issue, in an email dated November 3, has not yet been acknowledged.
The rationale behind the new nets is that small birds such as finches – previously the most popular quarry of Maltese trappers, but protected under European law as of 1 January 2009 – can easily wriggle out of the 30sq mm mesh, minimising the risk of ‘accidentally’ trapping protected species.
But according to trappers, the unforeseen consequences are often fatal to larger (and legal) quarry such as the Golden plover.
“Golden plover trappers are facing terrible consequences when they manage to catch some birds because of the 30sq mm mesh sized nets they have been ordered to use,” Lino Farrugia, FKNK secretary-general, said in his complaint to OPM last month. “Over 50% of caught birds so far have been killed on the site because the bird’s head gets through the mesh and thus the neck is broken on impact with the ground caused by the falling nets. The rest are taking ages to release because of the manner in which the birds get entangled, and such birds are neither totally unharmed nor their plumage left in the immaculate condition it used to be when normal nets were used.”
Meanwhile, trappers who separately contacted MaltaToday also claimed that, contrary to reports, the new minimum mesh-size of 30mm x 30mm had been imposed upon them by the Ornis Committee, acting on the advice of Birdlife Malta.
“Trapping of plover is legal, yet it seems Birdlife would rather see most of the plovers caught being killed,” one trapper complained.
However, Birdlife denies ever recommending a mesh-size of 30sq mm, arguing that its own recommendation to Ornis was for an even larger (40sq mm) mesh.
“The real reason for the high fatalities is not so much the mesh-size, but the fact that new nets are made of nylon, and not natural fibres such as cotton or hemp,” Birdlife Malta’s Geoffrey Saliba said yesterday: a claim which is also echoed by trappers, who have separately raised the issue that cotton nets are no longer being manufactured.
The Golden plover trapping season extends from October 20 to January 10, leaving just under two weeks for the issue to be ironed out with a view to reducing the 50%+ fatality rate. Trappers, however, are not hopeful of a meeting with OPM before the season closes in the new year.
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