The government has, by means of a Legal Notice, announced that the trapping season will open, despite warnings by the European Union.

The Legal Notice said the trapping season for seven species of song birds, song thrush and golden plover will open on Tuesday and last until the end of the year.

The limit has been set at 33,200 birds with limits established for every species.

Trappers need to apply for a special licence which costs €55.

Bird trapping in the EU is illegal although member states can apply a derogation. The European Commission, however, has warned that Malta’s derogation is not justified.

The Commission has already referred Malta's case to the European Court of Justice.

BLM says trappers still targetted Finches illegally on the pretext they were trapping other species

Meanwhile, in comments to this newsroom as a reaction to the legal notice, BirdLife Malta, which is also a member of the the Ornis Committee, explained that when the trapping of Finches was not allowed, trappers were still targeting Finches illegally on the pretext that they were trapping Golden Plovers and Song Thrush birds.

He said that the decision taken by Ornis to trap Golden Plovers and Song Thrush was taken in April despite the two warnings made by the Commission while the decision to trap Finches was taken a month later, in May. Regarding the trapping of Finches, the Commission has referred Malta to the EU Court of Justice.

BLM urges environment commissioner to act

Birdlife Malta said it is very disappointed at the government’s decision and insistence of opening another trapping season when the European Court of Justice will soon be deliberating over Malta’s defiance. 

BLM called on Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella to take immediate action to safeguard migrating wild birds.

BLM said the ogvernment’s defiance is an indication of the lack of appreciation in protecting migrating birds, and of its political commitment to respect the treaty signed by Malta when it became an EU member state. The treaty explicitly banned bird trapping after 2008.

“Our main concern is that many wild birds are going to be caught and taken from nature for no justifiable reason other than a recreational need. This is a considerable impact on wildlife and that is the reason why bird trapping is illegal under such directives. We hereby call on the Government not to open the trapping season to safeguard and protect migrating birds.

In view that Malta would now be taken to the European Court of Justice, we hope the government would retract from opening the season till the ECJ ruling is announced.” said BLM Conservation ManagerNicholas Barbara.

BirdLife Malta concluded that the EU Commissioner for Environment Commissioner has no option but to initiate interim measures against the Maltese government, in order to prevent the indiscriminate and unjustified catching of thousands of birds over the coming three months and safeguard their protection. Last year over 8,000 trapping sites were activated allowing the catch of over 33,000 birds through two derogations. Conditions published in legal notices yesterday indicate similar conditions are being applied.