BirdLife Malta has said in a statement that it “adamantly opposes the suggestion made by the hunting lobby that the Government opens a hunting season for turtle dove during spring.”

Ahead of the Ornis Committee meeting on the subject, which is scheduled for later on this afternoon, the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (FKNK) released a statement and a report proposing the lifting of the moratorium on the hunting of turtle dove in spring.

BLM explained why the conclusion that “hunting of Turtle Doves during spring has no effect on the vulnerable species population” does “not hold water.” It also argued that it is not being proven by the FKNK.

“The onus to prove this falls completely on FKNK and no scientific proof is provided,” it said. “To the contrary, the European Commission’s document on the Species Action Plan aimed at saving the Turtle Dove has recognised that hunting is a cause of decline of the species, and moreover is also requesting a hunting ban of the species across all Europe to allow it to recover.”

Irrespective of the above, BLM said that, “two years is not a long enough period to determine whether a moratorium in spring can have a positive effect on the Turtle Dove’s status, especially when last year’s moratorium was non-existent with thousands of Turtle Doves killed during the spring hunting season.”

BLM argued that the 2018 season was only “a smokescreen since the Government chose to open the Quail hunting season during the peak migration of Turtle Dove.”

The Turtle Dove population has been declining over the past 30 years, said BirdLife and “a two-year moratorium poorly enforced in Malta is not expected to bring the population from the brink of extinction.”

BirdLife went on to say that the FKNK is requesting Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to “demonstrate his political will” in favour of its lobby.

BLM argued that “Dr Muscat has demonstrated his will from day one, when he helped with the winning of the referendum, when he allowed longer hunting hours during autumn, and when he opened a spring hunting season during peak Turtle Dove migration so hunters could target the vulnerable species.”

“The hunting lobby is now asking for the European Commission and Dr Joseph Muscat to discuss and agree on a spring hunting derogation for Turtle Doves,” said BLM. “This goes against European Union (EU) protocol since the Commission should never agree to derogations beforehand.”

“We are confident that the EU will not allow this,” said BirdLife, “and should Malta open a spring hunting season for Turtle Dove it will surely end up once again in court with an imposed interim measure to stop spring hunting until the case is adjudicated.”

“The Maltese want to go out in nature and enjoy its beauty and not have their countryside taken up by hunters shooting birds during the breeding season,” stated BLM.

It went on to say that, “while across the European Union there are two hunters per square kilometre, in Malta we have 40, which makes this practice unsustainable especially during spring.”

“Illegalities in Malta are on the increase, with 2018 being the worst year in the past six for the illegal killing of protected birds,” stated BLM.

“Contrary to what FKNK wants us to believe, the moratorium was imposed solely to safeguard future entire spring hunting seasons, knowing that opening a season for Turtle Dove in 2017 would have led the European Union to close the season,” it said.

BirdLife Malta concluded by saying that it will be bringing these issues and others to the attention of the committee members today to try and get them to reject the proposal to open a spring hunting season for Turtle Doves. “We will also be writing to the Prime Minister and the European Commission accordingly.”

Photo by BirdLife Malta

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