BirdLife Malta in a statement this afternoon described the Wild Bird Regulations Unit’s (WBRU) proposal at today’s meeting of the Ornis committee, for a derogation to allow trapping of Song Thrush and Golden Plover this autumn, as “an inside job by the FKNK.”

Nicholas Barbara, BirdLife Malta’s Conservation Manager, raised the organisation’s objection to the committee’s chairperson over the presentation of the proposal by former FKNK council member, Joseph Lia, in his capacity as “Special Initiatives Officer” at the WBRU.

BLM said that Mr Lia, who until recently was listed as council member for “live-bird trapping” on the FKNK’s website, co-authored an FKNK proposal for the trapping of finches in autumn, which was also on the agenda to be discussed at today’s meeting.

Describing Mr Lia’s position as being, “too compromised to be credible,” Mr Barbara said, “to call this a mere conflict of interest does not do justice to the seriousness of the compromised impartiality of the WBRU. It seems that the pre-election deal negotiated by the FKNK has given them their own governmental body with which to implement their proposals on hunting and trapping.”

Refusing to be party to discussions about the proposals tabled by the WBRU and FKNK respectively, BirdLife Malta’s representatives on the Ornis Committee withdrew from the meeting after presenting their concerns to the committee members and chairperson.

BirdLife had already criticised the political appointment of staff to the new unit, which has been formed as a “one-stop-shop” on hunting and trapping issues, questioning the secondment of the unit’s acting head, Sergei Golovkin, along with that of Mr Lia and former Labour MP and adviser on hunting and trapping, Bertu Pace.

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