Malta, it appears, is facing the final spring hunting litmus test and, for all intents and purposes, this spring should very well be the government’s last attempt to regulate an area that has been, perhaps until now, seemingly uncontrollable.
And it will remain uncontrollable until hunters infringing the law face the full brunt of that law. So far the bad apples amongst the country’s hunting population have had not much more than a slap on the wrist from the powers that be, the courts included.
The recruitment of hunting marshals from within the ranks of the police force will provide some welcome reinforcement for the embattled Administrative Law Enforcement but the fact of the matter is that the forces of law and order can arrest hundreds of illegal hunters but unless the courts apply the full force of the law, they will simply be back again next season with no lesson having been learnt or imparted to others.
Around about this same time last year, this newspaper had reported how the judiciary had been accused of being soft on hunting crimes. Figures produced by BirdLife Malta showed that despite the stiffening of penalties against illegal hunting in 2007, 34.5 per cent of hunters convicted of illegal practices were given fines below the minimum threshold prescribed by law, while the bare minimum of fines were handed down by the courts in 51.4 per cent of cases. It was only in 3.8 per cent of cases that those convicted had their licenses suspended although the measure is a legal requirement to be applied to repeat offenders. Clearly a lot is left to be desired in the full application of the law, at least when it comes to hunting.
In applying a derogation to open the spring season, the government’s credibility is at stake on the issue perhaps this season more than ever following the European Court of Justice’s ruling on the matter and Malta’s insistence that it is entitled to a derogation.
But not only will it have to prove to the European Commission that the derogation the country applied to open the spring season is justified, and in the process prove that it has properly enforced bag limits and prevented the yearly slaughter of protected species, it will also need to show the country that the law of the land will be upheld and that those who fail to do so will have to answer, and pay, for their actions.
BirdLife Malta yesterday correctly questioned the government’s resolve to tackle the issue of enforcement, in the wake of a decision to return firearms confiscated at the beginning of the season on Wednesday from hunters who were found not to be carrying the required hunting documents on their person. It also correctly pointed out how the decision not only undermines both the police’s and marshals’ efforts toward enforcement, but also places in jeopardy the EU’s Birds Directive’s ‘strict supervision’ requirement – probably the most fundamental point the European Commission will take into consideration when it decides on Malta’s application of the directive in the season’s wake.
The government must, once and for all, give no quarter and apply a zero tolerance policy to all forms of illegal hunting. After all, its credibility is on the line in more serious terms than merely facing a slap on the wrist or punitive fines from the European Commission - illegal hunting is illegal and individuals cannot be allowed to run rampant and flout the law of the land without impunity.
By failing to adopt a zero tolerance policy toward spring hunting in the past, the government has already set a very dangerous precedent. And that precedent, if left unchecked, will be reinforced once again this year unless there is a serious crackdown on infractions of hunting laws.
Legal amendments introduced in the wake of past mass infractions have introduced heavy fines for illegal hunting, and heavier fines still for repeat offenders. Not only will the forces of law and order need to bring any and all perpetrators to justice, but the courts will also have to apply the full brunt of the law.
The Prime Minister has warned that enforcement will be key to the justification of Malta’s derogation, having stated, in Parliament, “It is the government’s intention to take all necessary measures to ensure that the law is fully observed in this regard. But the hunters and the organisations representing them should cooperate to ensure their own activity. If there is no such cooperation, there can only be one outcome − no hunting in the spring.”
The Prime Minister has been crystal clear, and he will be held to account should the government not well and truly ensure the full observation of the law. And with another two weeks left to the season, and with just about two birds allotted to each of this year’s licence holders, there is still a relatively long way to go.