Update: The Government has today published a report on the enforcement situation during 2013 autumn hunting and live-capturing season. The report documents latest institutional, legal and field enforcement developments and statistics pertaining to last year’s autumn hunting and live-capturing seasons.
The Governmenrt said that the report contains analysis of enforcement situation, “indicating a marked improvement on multiple fronts: from strengthening of governance and coordinating structures to increased enforcement deployment in the field, increased intensity of field inspections, greater inter-agency collaboration and strengthening of legal deterrent.”
“These improvements, in turn, translated into measurable reduction in virtually all categories of bird-related crime, in comparison with the corresponding statistics for the 2012 season,” the Government said.
The following are key highlights from the report:
• “During the peak raptor migration period from 1 September until 7 October 2013 more that 95 enforcement personnel from various entities were deployed to oversee the hunting season. This is double the enforcement personnel deployed in the same period in 2012. During this period, officers carried out 4,170 field inspections, contributing around 10,000 man hours on the beat, which is 40% more than the number of hours contributed during the same period in 2012. This ratio of enforcement deployment, amounting to roughly one officer for every 2 km2 of Malta’s countryside is unprecedented anywhere in Europe.
• During the entire Autumn hunting and live-capturing open seasons that collectively span from 1 September 2013 until 31 January 2014, the Police maintained an average daily field deployment that ranged between a maximum of 14 officers and a minimum of 9 officers in the field at any point in time from 05:00 to 21:30, effectively covering peak hunting and trapping activity times. This is excluding all other non-field Police staff, and staff from entities other than the Police, such as officers of the Specialist Enforcement Branch of the Wild Birds Regulation Unit and the Armed Forces of Malta.
• During the 2013 autumn period a total of 7,619 field inspections and spot-checks were conducted, of which 6,902 inspections were conducted in Malta and 717 inspections took place in Gozo.
• These inspections gave rise to the disclosure of 85 trapping-related offences (including 29 cases of illegal finch trapping) and 73 hunting-related offences (including six cases involving shooting of protected birds) against which legal action was instituted.
• In 2013 there was an almost fifth-fold reduction in disclosed trapping-related offences in comparison with the same period in 2012, which gave rise to 405 illegal trapping cases, of which 137 cases involved illegal trapping of finches. This indicates that the considerable increase in field deployment and intensity of inspections, as well as the doubling of penalties during 2013 season has had a strong deterrent effect that resulted in a drastic reduction in trapping offences, particularly in illegal finch live-capturing. There was also a slight reduction in hunting offences disclosed during 2013 season (73 cases) in comparison with 79 cases during the same period in 2012.
• Hunting within prohibited distances and using illegal means (e.g. bird caller) were by far the most common categories of hunting-related offences. Illegal finch trapping followed by trapping using prohibited means were amongst most common types of trapping-related offences.
• The number of persons apprehended and subsequently charged with trapping or hunting-related offences during 2013 season were 31 and 56 persons respectively. In comparison, legal action was taken against 170 persons for trapping illegally and 56 persons for hunting illegally during the same period during the 2012 autumn season.
• In addition to inspections in the field to deter illegal hunting and trapping, 35 inspections were carried out by the Police assisted by members of the Specialist Enforcement Branch of the Wild Birds Regulation Unit in private residences or other premises. The majority of such jointly investigated cases related to suspected illegal possession and taxidermy of protected species. During these inspections a total of 2,739 specimens were examined, of which 1,025 were seized since they were found to be of protected species. A total of 415 protected bird specimens were also found to have been illegally disposed without the necessary permits. As a result of these inspections 19 persons were apprehended possessing stuffed protected birds or dead birds held for the purposes of taxidermy or live protected birds held for illegal aviculture purposes.
• As at 6 March 2014, eight of the disclosed cases referred to above have been brought before and subsequently decided by the Courts of Law. Legal action in the Criminal Courts is in the process of being taken with respect to all other pending cases.
• In October 2013, Government doubled penalties for bird-related crime resulting in one of the harshest penalty regimes for hunting offences in Europe. Offences involving illegal targeting of wild birds incur the harshest penalties, which include imprisonment of up to 2 years, a fine of up to €15,000, confiscation of corpus delicti and revocation of a hunting licence for life.
• A new administrative fines system for minor offences was also introduced in October 2013. Until 6th March 2014, 356 individuals have been fined under this new system, of whom 20 individuals were fined between €250 and €500 each for illegal use of bird callers or possession of shotgun having a magazine capable of holding more than 2 shots, whilst 336 persons were fined between €50 and €130 each for failure to return their Carnet de Chasse to the Wild Birds Regulation Unit within the deadline stipulated by law. The latter fines resulted in unprecedented 99.6% rate of collection of Carnet de Chasse, which in turn improved precision of autumn hunting statistics.
• Amendments enacted in October 2013 considerably strengthened the legal protection regime for an additional 10 flagship bird species which previously did not enjoy the highest level of protection, such as Mute Swan, Grey Heron, Barn Owl, Common Kestrel, Common Buzzard and Eurasian Hobby. Any offences involving these birds are now subject to the same level of penalties as those applicable in relation to crimes committed against birds enjoying the highest level of protection.
• The report summarises various institutional and governance developments that occurred over the past few months, including the setting up of a dedicated Wild Birds Regulation Unit which includes a Specialist Enforcement Branch, work in progress with regards to setting up of Wildlife Crime Investigations Unit within the Police force, and other developments.
• The report also analyses strategic challenges in this sector which are yet to be fully overcome. Amongst the challenges, the report refers to the need for greater collaboration amongst stakeholders and the need to reduce polarisation and divisiveness that exists within the sector, the need for greater strategic coordination and pooling of resources, the need for structural capacity building, and the need to instil greater public and stakeholder awareness of the legal requirements pertaining to the sector.”
Earlier this afternoon the Government this afternoon in reaction to Birdlife (Malta)’s statement [1] published on Friday, on the announcement of 2014 spring hunting season for turtle dove and quail, said that “in the statement, issued as part of the organisation’s campaign against spring hunting in Malta, Birdlife (Malta) attempts to portray the announcement in terms of removing “the last remaining restrictions” in defiance of EU law, to the detriment of non-hunting public. The statement also gives a misleading impression that the hunting season is being lengthened, in comparison with previous year’s season.”
It should be noted, the Government said, “that last year’s spring hunting season spanned from 10th to 30th April, both days included. Hunting for turtle dove and quail was allowed on weekdays between 2 hours before sunrise and 3.00 p.m, and on Saturdays between 2 hours before sunrise and noon. No hunting was allowed on Sundays and public holidays.”
“During this year’s season, hunting on three Sundays and during a single public holiday will be allowed until 12.00pm only; however this is more than compensated by corresponding reduction in the overall length of the season, which will start on 12th instead of 10th April, and by reduction of hunting hours during weekdays. In fact, the total number of permitted hunting hours during 2014 will be less than in 2013,” the Government stated.
It added that “Birdlife (Malta) also insinuates that the removal of the 48 hour period during which hunters could previously apply for their spring hunting license is tantamount to “removing one of the last remaining restrictions that limited the number of licences issued for hunting in spring.”
The Government pointed out that “for administrative and logistical reasons, as well as for the sake of fairness, good governance and cost effectiveness, the Government considers this timeframe to be unreasonable and impractical, and one which causes unjustified inconvenience and additional expense both to the authorities, which have to cope with processing thousands of license applications within a 2 day period, and to hunters, who were unjustly put through unreasonable, costly and unfair 48 hour gauntlet of license applications.
“Any attempt at justifying this unreasonable and impractical timeframe in terms of limiting the number of licensees is not only unwarranted, in the presence of other, effective controls over intensity of hunting effort, but is also unfair, and goes contrary to basic principles of good governance.”
The Government statement continued by saying that “contrary to what Birdlife (Malta) attempts to portray, Government’s announcement of 2014 spring hunting season fully respects the parameters of spring hunting derogation, the Birds Directive and the 2009 CJEU judgement on spring hunting in Malta.
“In considering whether a season for turtle dove and quail can be opened in April, the Government is guided by national law, namely the Framework for Allowing a Derogation Opening a Spring Hunting Season for Turtle Dove and Quail Regulations (S.L. 504.94). These Regulations are clear and precise. They stipulate, amongst other, several controls and restrictions, such as daily and season’s bag limits per hunter, national quotas, a special licensing requirement, a requirement to report bagged birds through carnet de chasse and through SMS before leaving the hunting area, as well as time and place restrictions.”
The Government pointed out that the law also stipulates minimum enforcement requirements, such as that for every 1,000 licensed hunters there should be at least 7 enforcement officers monitoring the hunting season. “All these parameters are being adhered to in strictest manner possible. It should be noted that Malta deploys a level of field enforcement that is unprecedented anywhere in Europe.”
The Government concluded by saying that it wil be “further improving the precision of monitoring effort by introducing additional observation stations as part of an independent monitoring study of turtle dove and quail migration during April, and will also, for the first time, implement a similar study in the autumn.
“In parallel, the Government is committed to further building upon and consolidating improvements that occurred over the past few months, which ranged from doubling of penalties for bird-related crime, to increasing enforcement presence in the field and intensity of inspections, implementation of stricter administrative and regulatory controls, strengthening autumn data reporting system, and improvement in rate of compliance by hunters.”