The Government announced on Saturday, that having considered the recommendation of the Ornis Committee, it is opening the “research period” on seven species of songbirds from Monday, the 20th of October until the 20th of December, both dates included.

In a statement, the Government said that its “work to continue defending the Songbird Research Project yielded a positive result as on 19 September, the Court of Justice of the European Union ruled on only one point from a list of alleged infringements brought by the European Commission against Malta in Case C-23/23.”

It noted that the Court of Justice of the European Union “based its decision on the content of the Legal Notices of 2020, 2021 and 2022, finding that they did not include a statement and justification regarding the lack of another satisfactory solution. The European Court of Justice did not take any position on the other points mentioned by the European Commission, except that the Regulatory Framework (L.S.549.145) is clear and precise”.

Following the analysis of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union, the Government said that it has “undertaken to ensure that the Legal Notice declaring a research period includes a statement and justification confirming that there is no other satisfactory solution to collect information on the origin of songbirds during autumn migration, other than through the Research Project, where the trapper captures the songbirds using a trap, checks whether they have a scientific ring, writes the details on the ringing form, releases them all from the same location, and reports them via the free telephone system. The special licence also encourages the trapper to send short videos showing the migratory songbirds fleeing from the same location.”

The statement in the Legal Notice includes seven reasons which confirm and justify the lack of another satisfactory solution to answer the Research Project’s question: “where do the songbirds that migrate over Malta in the autumn after the breeding season come from?”:

The Government went on to say that “the Research Project is based on a study of seven species of songbirds that migrate and therefore requires a different methodology than a study on non-migratory birds – Ornithologists and bird-ringers have not been able to collect, through the use of rings, the information necessary to achieve the stated aim of the Research Project.”

The success of the Ghana Bird Research Project does not depend on the exclusive participation of ornithologists, as demonstrated by the number of foreign ring recoveries recorded by licensed data collectors, without the collaboration of ornithologists, during the 2020-2024 fall songbird research periods.

?Bird-ringers do not use calls and movement, which are the main component of the trapping system that enables more selective capture of birds.

Bird censuses are designed to monitor population size and status, including population changes during the breeding season and overwintering and therefore cannot provide any insight into where migratory birds come from.

It is not possible for migration studies to determine which migratory birds are scientifically ringed and which are not, and it is equally impossible to record the details of such rings, unless specimens of the relevant species are captured and physically examined.

The lack of information on ring recoveries of songbirds, combined with unpredictable and complex factors, including weather, among many others, makes large-scale population modelling inadequate for determining the migration ecology of songbirds and therefore inadequate for determining the population of the regions from which the largest numbers of migratory songbirds come before passing through Malta.

The Government said that anyone who participates in the research project on songbirds, under the authorisation of the special license issued in their name, will be:

“Obliged to release back into the wild any songbird they capture immediately after checking whether it is wearing a scientific ring and report it at that very moment (species and quantity) by calling, free of charge, on 8000 2020 from a mobile number registered in their name, or by using the ‘Game Reporting MT’ mobile app. The systems confirm the report by sending back an SMS as confirmation; and

“Obliged to write all details on the ring form issued in his name, which is included with the special license, if he catches a scientifically ringed songbird; Any bird he catches that has a scientifically ring must also be reported on the same day as explained in the special license.”

Anyone in possession of the special licence for songbird research is legally obliged to observe all regulations related to this derogation, the Government said.

Photo: Finch live decoy by Ben Metzger

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