At an ORNIS Committee meeting held today BirdLife Malta said that it made it clear that “the proposed hunting bag limit of 500 turtle-doves to be hunted during September is a farce and ignores the warning that the European Turtle-dove (Gamiema) is seriously endangered.”
The Maltese Government’s refusal to control hunting of the turtle-dove despite the EU-wide push by the European Commission to help the recovery of this declining species [1] – reveals a cosmetic approach to environmental protection.
The European Commission is pushing for an EU-wide effort to help the recovery of the declining turtle-dove.
BirdLife stated that “in response to this the Government proposed reducing the hunting bag limit in autumn to 500 birds when in reality, in the past five years, between 2016 to 2020, the total amount of turtle-doves declared shot and killed by hunters was 809, an average of 162 birds shot per year, so allowing 500 birds to be shot this autumn is actually three times more than this average.”
The ORNIS Committee, which BirdLife pointed out is “composed primarily of political appointees,” voted in favour of the new turtle-dove quota and only BirdLife Malta opposed it while stating that there should not be any turtle-dove hunting due to its “vulnerable status.”
BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana stated: “Malta is only paying lip service to environmental protection. The present administration, through the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU), is once again willing to appease the hunting lobby and will make no changes to bad practices.
He added that, the turtle- dove can no longer be a huntable species. Furthermore Maltese hunters and the authorities cannot be trusted with reporting or respecting quotas. The Maltese Government, through the WBRU, is taking the European Commission for a ride. In fact only 2.7% of hunters in Malta participate in the reporting system and there is no indication that this will improve.”
Photos BirdLife:The European Turtle-dove (Photo by Aron Tanti, BirdLife Malta) and Table with data from the Carnet de Chasse which shows the amount of turtle- doves shot between 2013 and 2020 as declared by the hunters themselves