Nature Trust (Malta) and International Animal Rescue Malta called on the European Union yesterday to clarify the situation regarding spring hunting in Malta because of the conflicting claims being made by the government and the EU.

They said that before accession, the government had claimed that an agreement on the subject had been concluded with the EU, which the EU did not deny, and today the public and environmentalists wanted to know what the situation was.

NTM and IAR criticised the poor enforcement of hunting regulations but added that there had been improvements.

“From our side, we can confirm that during the last three years the number of injured birds that reached our rehabilitation place has continued to decrease every year,” they said.

“It is enough to say that so far this year we have only had only four injured birds – two injured gulls, one oiled sparrow and one racing pigeon. Compared with previous years, the figures are very significant,” they said, adding that with the introduction of heavier fines, the majority of hunters were thinking twice about going out to hunt during the close season.

The Birds Directive did not allow any sort of trapping of song birds and other species during the spring season. The Maltese government was now honouring what the Birds Directive said, but it was insisting that an agreement was discussed during the negotiation process and agreement on this subject was reached between the Maltese government and the European Union, allowing the trapping and hunting of seven bird species and two birds species respectively.

The problem at present is mainly based on this concession as interpreted by both the government and the hunters, ie that the EU gave a concession or a derogation prior to accession which is now being denied.

NTM and IAR emphasised that they were both against any sort of illegal hunting or hunting and trapping activities.

Regarding the improvement in the situation, the two NGOs said that reports that had reached them from people who had been in the countryside showed that they had seen more birds flying, and some of them had had close encounters with hoopoes. Video shots were given as evidence.

NTM and IAR said EU and Maltese statements were often conflicting. “We kindly ask the (European) Commission to issue a statement of clarification on the true facts in order to resolve the problem which cropped up recently.”

They said parts of the countryside and ecologically sensitive areas were being ruined and given to big business developers, for example Ta’ Cenc in Gozo.

Bird trappers’ hides on ecologically protected sites were not being removed by the authorities. These were not only occupying public and protected sites but were contributing to site degradation, often going against the Habitats Directive. Bird trappers used herbicides to remove vegetation to install their nets and various species of flora were being eliminated with the result that ground vegetation was often disturbed, the two NGOs said.