The Rural Affairs and Environment Ministry said that the dates of the autumn hunting season were established according to the recommendations of the Ornis Committee.

In a statement, the ministry said that the minister had the legal right to add conditions to the recommendations – and this is why it was established that in the last two weeks of September, hunting had to stop at 3pm to safeguard birds of prey.

The reduction of the hunting time – between 3pm and two hours before sunrise the next day – is only for two weeks out of five months that are open for hunting, the two weeks during which birds of prey are more likely to migrate. Through this condition, the government wanted to reduce the temptation for hunters to break the law by hunting

protected species.

The government said it had made it clear that a self-regulation system needed to be put in place to control hunters who abused. In the absence of measures taken by the hunters’ federation, the government felt it was duty-bound to take all the necessary steps to reduce such abuse.

The government added that the trapping season for turtle doves, quail, thrushes and plovers is allowed through a derogation for which every country is entitled to apply from the European Union. Through such a derogation, trapping was allowed during the 2004 and 2005 autumn season, whereas no recommendation had come from Ornis for the 2006 season.