Hunters' federation FKNK is asking the government to apply a moratorium on spring hunting to prove that hunting in Malta is not affecting the reduction in number of turtle doves in Europe. They are saying that through this moratorium, they can protect the sustainability of the hunting tradition in Malta.

In a press conference addressed this morning at the FKNK headquarters in Imsida, the federation's CEO, Lino Farrugia is accusing the European Commission for bullying the smallest state in the European Union - Malta.

"The EU membership was what caused this sorry state for Maltese hunters. FKNK knew what the EU would do to our precious tradition," he insisted.

"Our officials were called liars; we were deceived with letters and propaganda by the politicians whose only aim is to get full membership of the EU."

He explained that before Malta's membership, spring hunting in Malta lasted for 60 days, but now spring hunting is only limited to 7 full days or 14 mid-days.

Farrugia referred to the hunting referendum, that despite having been won by the yes vote, hunters' rights were not protected. He reminded those present that Alternattiva Demokratika, 14 NGOs and the local English newspapers were all against hunting and trapping. "We were described as Neanderthal," he added.

"We are proposing the moratorium because we had to choose between two evils." He explained that FKNK hopes that other EU countries do their part and follow Malta's lead.

A moratorium is not a complete abolishment, Mr Farrugia explained. "But we propose such an action so that we can preserve the number of turtle doves. We don't really want this moratorium, but we need to prove that Malta does not affect the number of turtle doves which is decreasing."

FKNK argued that ICUN tries to convince the public that the population of turtle doves will be extinct. He said that, however, studies show that the population of turtle doves in Europe exceeds the 19 million.

He criticized Karmenu Vella for proposing a voluntary moratorium for Malta, but did not come up with a holistic plan across the whole EU, but chose to single out Malta.

"The UK is the nation which has most protection on turtle doves, but somehow the number was still reduced. This clearly proves that hunting had nothing to do with this reduction."

In a statement the other main hunting group, Kaccaturi San Ubertu, said it supported the hunting community’s call upon the government to declare a voluntary moratorium on spring hunting of Turtle Dove, which should remain in force until sustainability of limited spring hunting of this species is scientifically proven.

“This decision follows a call for restrictions on the spring hunting of turtle dove by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as well as by Commissioner Karmenu Vella.

 KSU refer the European Court of Justice (ECJ) Case C-76/08 on spring hunting in Malta whereby the Court noted that as opposed to all other EU states “there is no other satisfactory solution, namely, as in the present case, that there are insufficient hunting opportunities in autumn”. Bearing this in mind and that the turtle dove is considered as a huntable species in Malta and other EU states, KSU believes that it is essential that the Maltese government should play an active role in addressing the perceived decline of Turtle Dove at EU level.

KSU furthermore calls upon hunting organizations in other EU countries that hunt turtle dove to follow suit and appeal to their governments for similar measures to restrict hunting of this species to levels that can be scientifically proven to be sustainable.

KSU emphasizes that all threats facing the turtle dove need urgent remedial action. Though hunting is a minor issue when compared to the main threats resulting from widespread bad agricultural practices and habitat loss, KSU commends the Commission’s pledge to “make full use of all its instruments to tackle all relevant causes for this decline”.

 

 FKNK agrees with BirdLife Malta’s arguments

Whilst in no way intending to enter into any confrontation with the Malta Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK), BirdLife Malta declared today that it bases its arguments solely on facts.

“And the scientific facts are that the European Turtle Dove (Gamiema) status has been classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) because of a significant decline in its population in recent years.

In a press conference this morning regarding this subject, FKNK confirmed BirdLife Malta’s position and arguments. Whilst shedding doubts on IUCN’s decision to list the Turtle Dove on its Red List of Threatened Species and on the timing of this decision, FKNK is now proposing to Government that the spring hunting moratorium on Turtle-doves is applied.

This means that whilst up to now it was arguing that is was not true that the species is in danger, FKNK is now agreeing on the vulnerability of the Turtle-dove.

BirdLife Malta welcomes FKNK’s change of heart and proposal with regards to the moratorium but declares that the Maltese Government should have applied the moratorium a long time ago based on the scientific facts available and should not have waited for a lobby group to pronounce itself, to take action.

One also questions what made FKNK adopt this stance, especially when in today’s press conference they also indicated that the European Commission already sent the first warning to the Maltese Government, implying that this could be the first of a series of actions leading to another court case for spring hunting to be abolished completely once and for all.

BirdLife Malta has for a long time been insisting that the case against spring hunting remains one based on a single crucial principle – that in spring, the healthiest birds would be migrating north towards their breeding grounds.

This apart from the fact that now we have scientific facts from IUCN that have not been contested. The fact that the Turtle Dove’s status has been changed because its population has declined considerably and is today in a vulnerable situation is not denied by anyone. Except, that is, for FKNK.

Besides IUCN having international credibility, one cannot also ignore the fact that FACE (The European Federation of Associations for Hunting and Conservation) – of whom Malta’s FKNK is a member – is a partner in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

 

In view of all this, we expect the Maltese Government and the European Commission to listen to scientific facts and take action accordingly. Today’s development could mean that there is another reason for BirdLife Malta and FKNK to cooperate further in this regard. But facts are facts and cannot be denied, let alone ignored.”