BirdLife Malta continued to apply pressure on the government yesterday over its retention of the spring hunting season in what it, and the European Commission, considers to be a breach of the EU’s Birds Directive for the fourth year running.

Reacting to a slew of strengthened regulations on hunting approved by the Cabinet on Monday, which have effectively doubled fines for violating hunters while repeat offenders are to be landed with mandatory prison sentences, BirdLife Malta (BLM) executive director Tolga Temuge commented yesterday: “In view of the recent police memo instructing officers not to arraign illegal hunters, the minister cannot command any trust in his ability to enforce the law.”

Enforcement of the previous, laxer, regulations on hunting has proved problematic, with fewer than 30 officers tasked with enforcing hunting regulations among thousands of hunters, said BLM.

Speaking to The Malta Independent yesterday, a Rural Affairs and Environment Ministry spokesman confirmed that enforcement of the new regulations will fall under the wing of the Office of the Prime Minister, which is to coordinate such enforcement activities between the army and the police.

He added that the decision to open spring hunting this year was not a new one and the decision to indefinitely retain spring hunting had been taken before Malta had joined the European Union. Malta, he added, has always maintained that spring hunting would remain open and had negotiated a common position with the EU during accession negotiations in order to ensure spring hunting was safeguarded.

While the EU’s Birds Directive allows each member state to apply for derogations from the directive, any government looking for such a derogation needs to justify its position. In Malta’s case, the government will have to provide scientific evidence that there is no suitable alternative to spring hunting. And while the EC and environmental lobbies insist autumn provides such a viable alternative, the government is not of the same opinion.

The government is in the process of commissioning a study to be carried out by “a reputable institution” on migratory patterns and, from preliminary data in hand, it believes autumn presents no such suitable alternative.

But the fact that the government had already decided its position on spring hunting without such scientific evidence in hand, BLM contends, shows it has “pre-empted the study and will attempt to manipulate its results”.

At a press conference convened by BLM yesterday to discuss the outcome of Monday’s controversial Ornis Committee meeting and the announcement on the new hunting regulations, the organisation, which is represented by two members on the Ornis Committee, charged the government with breaking not only EU law, but also its own legal notice, LN 79.

The fact that Monday’s Ornis meeting had been convened simply to recommend the dates and conditions under which spring hunting would open this year, and not to debate the issue of whether it should be opened in the first place, was described as a “reflection of a weak government”. The matter of the government unilaterally deciding to retain the derogation also contravened the government’s own legal notice, which stipulates that the Ornis Committee “shall make recommendations to the minister on the authorisation of such derogations”.

BLM also points out that under LN 79, the opening of a hunting season can only take place six weeks after the Ornis Committee’s recommendation. If the opening of spring hunting is to be effected on 1 April, as recommended by Ornis on Monday, it would open just under five weeks after the recommendations were made on Monday. The ministry, however, has said it will reduce the period specified in the legal notice to four weeks.

Speaking yesterday, BLM president Joseph Mangion commented: “When a minister sets up a committee to provide advice on best practice on the issue of hunting and trapping in Malta, there is an expectation that the minimum guidelines within which the committee should operate are observed, even amidst suspicions that the committee is there to serve a political purpose. In that regard, the latest Ornis Committee meeting went beyond all expectations.”

BLM added that it is seeking legal advice over what it describes as a “serious violation” of both the legal notice and the Birds Directive, after which it will consider what action to take. There is, the organisation added, ample EU case law on similar infringements that will guarantee Malta will eventually be found guilty. BLM said it will also continue to pressure the government and the EU over the case, while also mobilising the public to become more vociferous on the issue.

Speaking on Monday, Mr Pullicino stressed that by allowing spring hunting this year, the government was fulfilling its political mandate for sustainable hunting, as given by the people in both the EU accession referendum and the last general election.

He added that if the government had not had its political mandate to fulfil, and if the Ornis Committee had made different recommendations on Monday, the government might very well have reached another verdict on spring hunting.

Reacting to the confirmation of spring hunting 2007, Alternattiva Demokratika chairman Harry Vassallo commented yesterday: “Contrary to what Minister Pullicino claimed, the government has no mandate to defy the EU. In voting for EU membership, a majority voted in favour of respect for the law and not for the government to defy EU rules in the hope of deceiving hunters one last time before the general election”.

AD spokesman for the environment and energy Ralph Cassar added: “The government has once again given in to a few people who think they can do as they please. Instead of implementing EU law regarding hunting and giving the Maltese countryside back to the people, the Nationalist government, scared stiff of losing votes, is risking stiff fines imposed by the EU. These fines will be paid out of everybody’s taxes.”

New regulations and stiffer penalties

According to amendments to the penal clauses published by the ministry on Monday, fines for “aggravated offences” have effectively been doubled, while those practicing illegal hunting will also face prison sentences and will have their hunting and firearms licences suspended.

Aggravated offences include attempts to hunt, take or destroy bird nests; hunting at sea within three kilometres of the coast; hunting and trapping at bird sanctuaries; hunting of protected species; hunting during the closed season or within two hours before sunrise and after sunset, and hunting from beaches.

For first offences, all fines have been doubled to not less than Lm100 and not more than Lm2,000 plus the suspension of hunting and firearms permits for between one and three years. Penalties have become even stiffer for repeat offenders, who will be slapped with fines of between Lm200 and Lm4,000 and a jail term of between two months and two years. The courts will also order the permanent revocation of the violator’s hunting and firearms licences. Those found hunting or trapping birds without a licence will suffer the same penalties as repeat offenders.

Those caught hunting after their licence has been revoked, meanwhile, will be fined a minimum of Lm3,000 and up to Lm6,000. Such individuals will also serve a prison term of at least one year but of not more than two.

In addition to the present regulations, that do not allow shooting 50 metres from a main road and 200 metres from a residential area, another amendment will provide for no shooting within 50 metres of a beach. While beaches have not up to now been defined at law, new amendments will define the following areas as beaches: Paradise Bay, Armier Bay, Anchor Bay, Golden Bay, Ghajn Tuffieha, and Gnejna in Malta and Ramla l-Hamra, San Blas, ix-Xatt l-Ahmar, Imgarr ix-Xini and Xlendi Bay in Gozo.