Government risking infringements says BirdLife over trapping

Updated at 6:27pm with BirdLife reaction.

In a statement, the OPM said it was reversing its original decision not to open the season for trapping, saying it had studied the recommendations of the Ornis Committee on the derogation from the Birds Directive. “The government feels there is more work to be done to ensure the application of the derogation according to the Birds Directive’s provisions,” the OPM said.

The Office of the Prime Minister had turned down its decision because it claimed there was insufficient information and data to derogate from the Birds Directive’s ban on finch-trapping.

BirdLife Malta campaigns coordinator Geoffrey Saliba told MaltaToday this evening that the government was risking further infringement procedures.

"Infringement procedures over the opening of the trapping season have already been opened by the EU's Environment Commission... the use of nets for the catching of birds under the Birds Directive is illegal under the Birds Directive. To do this the government must apply a derogation."

Whether or not the government's latest decision to derogate from the Birds Directive's ban on trapping will be accepted is a matter for the European Commission to decide.

Lino Farrugia, the secretary-general of the FKNK, had previously complained that there was no legal reason for the government not to open the season for trapping if it has opened it for shooting birds.

“If the catchable species – Turtle Dove, Quail, Golden Plover and Song Thrush – can be hunted, government doesn’t need to derogate from the Birds Directive to ‘take birds from the wild’,” he says quoting the European law that bans spring hunting. “It’s the State that has to decide how we are to take the birds.”

The European Commission opened an infringement case against Malta concerning autumn bird trapping in June 2011 when Malta derogated from the Birds Directive without satisfying the conditions for trapping.

Member states may derogate from this provision and allow trapping provided that all the strict conditions set out in the Birds Directive are respected – absence of satisfactory alternative, selectivity, small numbers, judicious use, and strict supervision.

“That’s easier said than done,” BirdLife campaigns coordinator Geoffrey Saliba had said in September. “They are prerequisites which build up to the requirements on how to apply the derogation. So is their judicious use being done? No? Then trapping is out. You don’t go on to tick the other boxes. Is there a satisfactory alternative? No. Then that’s it.”

The OPM as ministry for the environment is responsible for the dates of hunting seasons, as recommended by the Ornis Committee which includes representatives from the hunters’ lobby FKNK and BirdLife Malta.