BirdLife Malta today reiterated the call made last week by CABS, the Committee Against Bird Slaughter (click on link below) to close the trapping season for Golden Plover, after witnessing an exceptional migration of the species over the past weeks with widespread trapping activity being undertaken across the two islands, often at night, and with the illegal use of electronic callers.

Together with this press release, BirdLife Malta is releasing a video (above) highlighting the use of electronic callers in various locations in the countryside. The video shows how the use of illegal electronic callers is rampant and unregulated.

Over the course of November and December, we have been receiving on a daily basis alerts by members of the public, reporting the use of electronic callers for Golden Plover during the day and night, with little or no police action taken to control them.

Questions made to the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) during an Ornis Committee meeting held last Thursday have revealed that although there has been a reported presence of 30 to 35 enforcement officers in the field during the trapping season, only 11 fines for the use of electronic callers were issued over the past 4 months of hunting and trapping. A meagre amount considering that during this period over 10,000 hunters and 4,000 trappers are active in Malta’s countryside.

Thanks to amendments to the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations proposed by the WBRU in 2013, the use of electronic callers has been decriminalised, and nowadays instead of appearing in court would-be culprits only face the prospect of a €250 fine. Although this was done with the intention of making enforcement more effective, it seems that it is leading to precisely the opposite effect.

It has been common practice throughout the trapping season to have these callers automatically set on in the countryside at various trapping locations, with these being switched off at the slightest presence of police or members of the public who would be reporting the matter to the authorities. 

In a statement, the government condemned any illegal activity but refutes the allegation of “unregulated rampant use of bird callers which is on the increase”. Contrary to these claims, illegal use of bird callers has declined by over 60% since 2012 (72 cases in 2012, 66 cases in 2013, 43 cases in 2014, 34 cases in 2015 and 29 cases in 2016).

Prior to the introduction of the new administrative fines system in October 2013, illegal use of bird callers was an offence that was punishable only upon court conviction. Court proceedings took many months to complete, resulting in offenders being meted out with a €232.94 fine. In October 2013, the new administrative fines system was introduced and has so far proved to be incomparably more effective in addressing illegal use of bird callers. Under the new system, anyone caught using a bird caller is automatically fined €250 without the need for lengthy court proceedings and this fine is payable within 21 days whilst the equipment is confiscated and destroyed.  

Since 2013, field enforcement has more than doubled over the 2012 levels, and therefore one cannot reasonably argue that the decrease in disclosure of illegal bird callers is due to lack of enforcement action. Moreover, although it is logistically difficult to locate and dismantle such illegal electronic devices at night, the authorities nonetheless do their utmost to cooperate with NGOs to locate and disarm these devices. Last year, several night patrols were conducted in the autumn, and at least on one occasion a joint patrol was held between the Malta Police and CABS volunteers that led to the location and dismantlement of 15 illicit devices.

Although this is very demanding on the limited enforcement resources, the Police is planning such extra night operations that will take place over the next few days during peak Golden Plover migration. These extra patrols complement routine enforcement operations that are conducted in two shifts between 0500 and 2130.

The assumption made by the NGOs in their statements that reports of illegal bird callers at night are somehow equated with illegal trapping at night is incorrect and in this regard a distinction needs to be made. Although both are illegal, a pre-recorded bird caller at night does not automatically imply that a trapping site is active. In fact, on most occasions, illegal bird callers are well camouflaged to hamper detection and are electronically programmed to become active at specific periods of the night, usually early hours of the morning (most commonly between 02:30 and 05:00).

These stationary automatic devices are mostly used to attract target huntable species to the site to enable their shooting or capture during permitted hours early in the morning. The actual incidence of physical trapping activity at night is not as widespread as is being claimed by NGOs. So far, since the start of this year’s autumn season, the authorities took legal action against 29 individuals caught using bird callers (11 whilst trapping and 18 whilst hunting). 

Notwithstanding the considerable logistical difficulties of detecting these devices at night and apprehending individuals using them, the Maltese authorities are confident that these illegalities, which are not as widespread as claimed by the NGOs, are being gradually eradicated, through patrols, better coordination, more awareness-raising, and high penalties for abuse.