Richard Lia will be assuming the role of acting Head of the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU), a spokesperson from the Ministry for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change has told The Malta Independent.
Lia, who previously served as a Senior Manager at the WBRU, will be replacing Sergei Golovkin who resigned last week.
“Further information will be communicated in due course when role of Head of WBRU is formally fullfilled,” the spokespersons said.
Asked whether the ministry was concerned given that Golovkin resigned a few days before the hunting season started on 1 April, the spokesperson said that “the Ministry remains committed to oversee effective implementation of various projects, educational awareness programmes and enforcement initiatives and is confident the important role of WBRU will remain and stengthened in the near future.”
Following Golovkin’s resignation, Birdlife Malta called on the government to shift the enforcement responsibilities of the Conservation of Wild Birds legislation onto the Malta Environment and Resources Authority (ERA).
“It has been very clear that this unit failed in achieving some of its important goals mainly related to enforcement due to its lack of competence in this field, especially in ornithology,” the statement read.
“The enforcement remit should return back to ERA who has competent persons that can handle this matter more efficiently.”
BirdLife Malta insisted that it “has been, and will remain, the Government’s policy that determines how agencies, and hence the civil servants within, operate.”
The statement went on to say that the WBRU can remain an agency that looks at derogations from the European Birds Directive and the relative administration and legislation.
The Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) welcomed the resignation of Golovkin, saying that since his appointment “hunting and trapping enforcement system has become a disaster and requires a total reform.”
“The damage his actions and proposals have done to Malta’s ability to enforce its hunting regulations and comply with international conservation conventions and directives is unimaginable“, CABS president Heinz Schwarze said in statement, adding that nearly all new rules and enforcement procedures established since Golovkin became head of the WBRU in 2014 “have led to a significant breakdown of enforcement.”
In a statement, the Ministry thanked Golovkin for his service to the WBRU during the past years.
The spring hunting season will take place between 1 April and 21 April despite scientific evidence and the advice from the Environment Resources Authority and Birdlife recommending that takes place between 15 March to 4 April, specifically to avoid the turtle dove peak migratory season, which is now protected in spring. The Ornis Committee had recommended the season to be open from 5 April to 25 April.