Stop illegal hunting and trapping in Malta!

Today three cars belonging to BirdLife Malta volunteers were torched by unknown individuals. Since Malta joined the European Union in 2004, the government has continued to allow the infringement of EU law aimed at the conservation of wild birds and their habitat. The Maltese government has allowed the spring hunting and trapping of Turtle Dove and Quail in direct violation of the EU law and hunters have used this as a blanket to kill protected species.

Spring hunting and trapping is expressly forbidden by the Birds Directive. Moreover, trapping is not allowed in the EU at any time of the year. Trapping using clap nets is banned throughout the EU due to the fact that it is a very effective trapping method (using live decoys) that can catch large quantities of birds. Malta does not meet the condition of Art.9 (1) c of “strictly supervised conditions” (i.e. there are no systems in place to limit and supervise the number of birds killed, as well as methods, time and place of the activity). Moreover there are a mere 24 ALE officers in Malta and 3 officers in Gozo to control the activities of more than 16,000 hunters and trappers. Nor does Malta meet the condition of Art.9 (1) c of “judicious use” (the hunted species – Turtle Dove and Quail - have declining or depleted populations and unfavourable conservation status).

In May 2007 Malta's largest afforestation project (Foresta 2000) site was vandalized. About 3,000 trees were destroyed, as well as a rubble wall built by the project partners (BirdLife and Din l-Art Helwa together with PARC, the afforestation department of the Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment). The cost of this act of vandalism was estimated to be tens of thousands of Maltese Liri.

In October 2007, the European Commission sent Malta its final written warning, ‘a reasoned opinion’, calling on the Maltese government to address this anomaly. The Maltese government replied to the Commission in January, one month after the deadline. However, the reply was not deemed satisfactory by the Commission. As a result the Commission decided to take Malta before the European Court of Justice on January 31, 2008. A most welcome decision. But as election fever in Malta builds up, one cannot help but wonder whether anything will ever change in a country where the two-party system has rendered the political spectrum ideologically monochromatic.