Update 2 | ‘Spring hunting should not be abolished’ – Muscat

The hunting season will be opened for Spring from 12 April to 30 April, both dates included, the parliamentary secretary for animal welfare has announced.

The dates were approved by the Ornis Committee, although BirdLife members said the conditions were laid out by hunters' lobby FKNK.

The season runs for 19 days, an extra day over 2013's 18-day season; and allowed hunters to hunt on Sundays and public holidays until noon, which was not allowed in 2013. Hunters had an hour reduced on hunting times, with a 2pm curfew.

The decision means Malta will once again derogate from the EU’s ban on hunting in spring, prohibited by the Birds Directive.  

The Wild Birds Regulation Unit will issue a special 2014 spring hunting licence permitting only the hunting of Turtle Dove and Quail and no other species. No hunting shall be permitted without the licence. Only the holders of a valid carnet de chasse for February 2014-January 2015 are eligible to apply for this licence.

Muscat: referendum is divisive

In a comment from Brussels, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat dubbed an abrogative referendum being proposed by the Coalition to Abolish Spring Hunting (CASH), a “divisive solution” to the debate on spring hunting.

But Muscat also said a referendum would certainly take place if petitioners collect the necessary 10% of electoral register signatures.

“A vote in favour of abolishing spring hunting would simply be another form of prohibition that drives the issue underground,” Muscat said.

Reiterating his party’s electoral pledge, Muscat said spring hunting should remain as it had been negotiated by the previous administration.

Muscat also refuted the “interpretation”, that the EC had opened infringement proceedings on Malta’s application of a derogation from the Birds Directive’s ban on spring hunting.

“Saying that there is an open infringement on the Birds Directive is your interpretation… I know I may not be popular with your readers, but spring hunting should not be abolished,” Muscat said in reply to a question raised by MaltaToday.

BirdLife reaction

BirdLife Malta accused the government of amending the law at the behest of the hunting lobby to allow hunting on Sundays and public holidays for the first time in seven years. In previous years, hunting on Sundays and public holidays was prohibited by the framework legislation governing spring hunting derogations, which was itself agreed with the European Commission in 2010.

“The government has made several changes to the legislation governing the spring hunting season unilaterally without these changes even being discussed by the Ornis Committee,” said Nicholas Barbara, BirdLife Malta’s Conservation Manager.

The Ornis Committee had recommended the opening of a spring hunting season with the same conditions as last year. Instead, the changes reflect demands made by the FKNK directly to the government. "They fly in the face of the purpose of the framework legislation which is to try to ensure that the spring hunting derogation is controlled, limited and sustainable," Barbara said.

Barbara also said that licence application forms, guidelines and FAQs on the spring hunting season were already available to download on the hunting association’s online forum, before these have even been published by the Wild Birds Regulations Unit.

"The legislation has also been altered to give hunters extra time to apply for licences, removing one of the last remaining restrictions that limited the number of licences issued for hunting in spring. These changes will not just have a negative impact on the birds, giving hunters an extra day of hunting over last year’s season.

"Allowing hunting on Sundays and public holidays also deprives every non-hunting Maltese citizen, resident and visiting tourist of the only opportunity they previously had to enjoy the countryside during these three weeks in spring when wildlife on the islands is arguably at its most spectacular, thanks to the migration of hundreds of species of birds on their way to breed in Europe," Barbara said.

Hunting limits

The national hunting bag limit for this season has been established at 11,000 Turtle Doves and 5,000 Quail. Hunters cannot exceed the daily bag limit of two birds and a seasonal bag limit of four birds.

They will be required by law to immediately report their catch via SMS and declare their catch in their carnet de chasse before leaving the hunting area. If no birds are hunted, the applicant will have to write down the date and ‘0’ or ‘X’ in the carnet.

Hunting will be permitted from two hours before sunrise until 2pm between Monday and Friday, whilst on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays hunting will only be permitted from two hours before sunrise until noon.

“Anyone caught breaching the regulations shall be subject to criminal prosecution according to law and to increased penalties introduced in October 2013,” the parliamentary secretariat said.