Deadline for government to justify finch trapping season

Today is the deadline for the government to submit its justification to the European Commission for opening a finch trapping season in autumn 2014.

If the EC doesn’t consider the government’s justification to be adequate, then it may ask the European Court of Justice to start litigation procedures against Malta. If it does so, then an interim court junction will force trapping to be suspended for the duration of the case. European Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella has called on Malta to end finch trapping and abide by the EU regulations.

On 28 May, the EC issued a formal warning to Malta to end the finch trapping season, giving the government two months to comply. A day earlier, the Ornis Committee – the government’s consultative body on hunting – recommended the opening of a finch trapping season for autumn 2015.

BirdLife Malta has urged the government to ban finch trapping, rather than risk facing length and expensive EU court procedures. 

Citing a recent decision by the Italian government to outlaw all forms of bird trapping, BirdLife conservation manager Nicholas Barbara urged Malta to follow the country’s lead.

“Trapping wild birds and keeping them in tiny cages no bigger than shoebox, just for fun, is completely unjustifiable,” Barbara said in a statement. “Yet government continues to flout EU law, placing the country at risk of long and costly legal proceedings, to appease the demands of trappers. We urge them to act now and stop finch trapping before they risk embarrassing Malta in front of the European Courts. It’s not worth it.”

‘Government intends to forge ahead with trapping season’

Animal rights parliamentary secretary Roderick Galdes has said that the government is considering the Ornis recommendations, along with other advice, and will announce its decision on trapping “in due course”.

Yet Barbara argued that a ‘notice’ for trapping posted on the website of hunting federation FKNK is a clear indication that the government intends to forge ahead with an autumn trapping season regardless of the possibility of legal action.

The notice, posted on 18 July, informs trappers that, as “agreed with the Department of WBRU [Wild Birds Regulation Unit], the application process for trapping licenses is now open. Trappers may obtain licenses, allowing them to catch up to 10 finches across four trapping sites, for just €55’.

The notice on the FKNK forum also states that the WBRU has agreed to allow the registration of new trapping sites, a decision that BirdLife has argued will damage the Maltese countryside.

“The preparation of trapping sites involves removing all the vegetation, often using persistent herbicides or burning the ground, which leads to habitat loss, soil degradation and land eroision,” Barbara said. “We have seen large patches of the countryside scorched and burned in preparation of last year’s season. Over 8,000 trapping sites were active for a whole two and a half months last year and the impact of some of these has already been permanent.

“We need to reverse this impact, not increase it.”