GozoNews.Com

BirdLife Malta has expressed its outrage following the latest Ornis Committee meeting which the organisation described as “a reflection of a weak government”.

The new chairman of the Ornis Committee, Louis Cilia, appointed by government last week clearly stated that the decision to open the spring hunting season was already taken by the government and that the Committee was only expected to recommend to Environment Minister Pullicino the dates and conditions.

The Minister even went so far as to change the existing Legal Notice to sanction his infringement of the rules his own Ministry laid out to govern the practice of hunting and trapping. Under LN79 the opening of a hunting season can only occur six weeks from the date of the Committee’s recommendation. To legalize the unlawful opening of spring hunting season on 1st April prior to the expiration of those six weeks, the government announced an hour after the meeting that it had reduced the requirement to four weeks.

“When a Minister sets up a Committee to provide advice on best practice on the issue of hunting and trapping in Malta, there is an expectation that the minimum guidelines within which the Committee should operate are observed even amidst suspicions that the Committee is there to serve a political purpose. In that regard, the latest Ornis Committee meeting went beyond all expectations.” said Joseph Mangion, president of BirdLife Malta.

The organization is further deplored by the new chairman Louis Cilia’s demand that the outcome of the meeting that was held behind closed doors at the government farm in Luqa were not to be revealed to the media. When it was evident that journalists had acquired the information, Minister Pullicino immediately called a press conference and announced the opening of the spring hunting for turtle doves and quails.

BirdLife referred to LN 79’s provisions requiring that the Minister had to give due consideration to the Committee’s recommendations and publish the planned open seasons in the Government Gazette: “Another obligation the Minister has obviously missed.” said Mangion.

Commenting on the Minister’s announcement of an increase in fines for those caught hunting illegally, executive director of BirdLife Malta Tolga Temuge said: “In view of the recent police memo instructing officers not to arraign illegal hunters, the Minister cannot command any trust in his ability to enforce the law before these bullies. Although we don’t have guns, we will not be silenced. We will be using all the legal instruments available to us nationally and internationally to stop this government from causing any more damage”.

During the meeting the hunters insisted that a season for hunting at sea and trapping of finches should also be opened. With regard to hunting at sea, the hunters demanded an open season of a 15-day period between the first and second full moon. BirdLife stressed that the reason behind this request was the duck migration precisely in that period, proving once again that the hunters’ intention was not to hunt turtle doves and quails, which are the only two species that the government is attempting to derogate.

To date the Maltese government has failed to justify its decision to open spring hunting season for three consecutive years since it joined the EU in 2004. The government is still announcing that it will appoint an independent body to conduct the necessary research to justify its decision as required by the Commission.

“This statement from the government proves our point that the Ornis committee had absolutely no scientific base to make any recommendations on spring hunting. The duty of the Ornis Committee is to bring these issues to the government’s attention. A situation where the government is not only defying European Law but also breaking its own rules is likely to speed up the infringement process and increase the fines, as happened with France.” said Tolga Temuge.

In 2005 France was fined for the first time a lump sum (of unprecedented EURO 57.8 million) plus a periodic penalty of EURO 57.8 million for every six months for infringements related to fisheries legislation. The Court stated that given the “nature, seriousness and persistence” of the legal breach, the court ruled, a large “degree of persuasion” was needed to make France “alter its conduct”.