Whichever way one looks at it, this spring’s surprisingly low number of reports of birds shot gives cause for alarm.
On paper, it was a good spring for birds migrating through Malta but the reality could be on a very different page altogether. As part of recent spring hunting seasons, and as part of the government’s bid to limit illegal hunting, hunters have been required to send the Malta Environment and Planning Authority a text message every time they down a bird.
With the season having now drawn to an end, MEPA reports that it had received a total of just 2,208 reports, representing approximately one-fifth of the 11,500 bag limit – 9,500 turtledoves and 2,500 quail - set by the government when it opened the spring season by applying a derogation from EU rules.
The gaping discrepancy between this year’s reported catch and what had been set as the ceiling for those hunters holding special spring hunting licences could be explained, hypothetically, in a number of ways.
It could very well be that this year’s bounty was not as rich as usual due to ‘poor’ migration patterns, as has been cited.
It could also be that hunters had problems, as has been claimed, in sending reports in from areas with poor cell phone reception, which, however, does not explain why they were simply not sent when they returned from these areas of no service, which, truth be told, are very few and far between but which are admittedly usually in areas frequented by hunters.
In addition to the text reports, hunters were also to record each and every catch on an official carnet de chasse form, but it is very doubtful that there will be a significant, if any, departure from what has been reported by SMS once those are analysed.
Whatever the reason, this year’s apparent dearth of quarry is, in actual fact, far greater than implied by the bag limit itself. In fact, according to court transcripts from the European Court of Justice’s ruling on the matter, the number of birds killed in an average spring amount to no less than 47,000 - 15,000 quail and 32,000 turtledoves.
As such, hunters apparently bagged only about one-fifth of their bag limit of 11,500 but that number also represents around one-twentieth of what constitutes a ‘normal’ spring season’s overall take.
This is the crux of the problem, and there are two possible explanations. Either the age-old Africa-Europe migratory patterns have been drastically disrupted or the species in question has drastically decreased in numbers. Either scenario would be a great cause for alarm for the international scientific and ornithological communities, and as such experts should be scrambling for grants and the like to study this concerning phenomenon in detail. It would also mean that the two species are under a far greater threat than previously understood.
On the other hand, the only other plausible explanation is that hunters have not been entirely honest in their reporting. Such a scenario would match what BirdLife Malta has been reporting over recent weeks – that the sheer number of shots recorded by its volunteers this spring season mean either that hunters are poor shots, which we know they are not, or that hunters had actually reached their quotas long ago and the season should have been brought to an early end. It has also reported that the numbers of protected species brought into its offices this spring season has been consistent with previous seasons.
The cause for alarm in this case would be on the government’s part, if it turns out that hunters have not been diligent in their reporting requirements.
Should that be found to have been the case, the government would have failed the ‘strict supervision’ clause that formed part of the derogation applied to open this year’s spring season and, as opposed to securing a recurring spring season for Malta’s hunters it would have brought it to an abrupt end.
Either way, this year’s low number of reports does not bode well for the continuation of the spring hunt.