BirdLife Malta’s Spring Watch conservation camp may well be the NGO’s first ever camp without the threat of hunters during the spring season.
Spring Watch is part of BirdLife’s fight against illegal spring hunting and is organised during the peak spring migration period.
But with the Maltese government now having to answer for its decision to open spring hunting in the past four years before the European Court of Justice, it is likely that BirdLife’s spring camp will be the first not to face threats as in its previous Raptor Camp.
The Raptor Camp was held in September 2007 during which over 50 people from the UK, Germany, Italy, Finland, the USA, Hungary and the Netherlands participated.
This year’s camp will be held between the 12 and 29 April. BirdLife said that even if spring hunting is likely to be banned for the first time in Malta, it was still vital that it maintains a strong presence in the countryside “to make sure that hunters respect the law, while at the same time recording data on migratory species.”
“However, if Malta goes against the European Commission and once again breaks European law by allowing spring hunting, then volunteers will be needed to demonstrate the impact of this hunting season by recording the extent of hunting in spring, while at the same time making sure that hunters do not target protected species.”
WWF Italy and the Mediterranean Association for Nature have partnered with BirdLife in the activity.
BirdLife said the impact of illegal hunting in countries along the main raptor migratory flyways is an international issue that affects birds breeding in Europe and wintering in Africa. “A bird shot illegally in Sicily or Malta is not just a crime affecting that country, but one that is of European and African concern. The presence of foreigners helping out in these camps raises awareness amongst the locals who are increasingly more supportive of bird conservation issues.”