Hunters toast Malta’s ‘firm stance against European Commission’ over turtle dove ban

Malta’s hunting lobby is claiming bird migration has increased over the Maltese islands, after the trapping season for golden plovers was closed earlier than expected.

The season was closed on 3 January, a week earlier, when the national quota for trapped birds was reached.

Similarly the turtle dove season was closed 19 days earlier than expected on 11 September, 2021 when the quota was reached.

“In previous three years, namely in 2018, 2019 and 2020, the same quotas had never been reached, neither before nor at the end of the respective seasons,” FKNK secretary-general Daniel Xriha said.

“Contrary to what the European Commission says, this means that the wild populations of both turtle doves and golden plovers are increasing substantially, and therefore sustainably,” Xriha said.

Xriha also claimed BirdLife Malta’s calculations were incorrect, after the conservationist NGO complained of a lack of bag-reporting by hunters and trappers to ensure shooting and trapping seasons are not closed earlier than usual.

The FKNK said Gozo minister Clint Camilleri, who is responsible for hunting matters, and the government regulator Wild Birds Regulation Unit, had adopted a “firm stance against the Euruopean Commission” which is seeking a ban on shooting turtle dove.

The FKNK has also met Camilleri to discuss the prospects of hunting at sea, and reintroducing spring hunting and turtle dove trapping.

In June 2015 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) acknowledged the decline of the species placing the bird on the Red List of Threatened Species and listing the turtle dove as ‘vulnerable’.

“The FKNK will continue to work harder to restore the socio-cultural tradition of spring turtle dove hunting and trapping, and to continue trapping, even of golden plovers,” Xriha said.