BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana is expecting bird-migration to increase in the coming days, while the NGO is doing all it can to monitor all known hunting-spots for any illegalities.
The spring hunting season began on Easter Sunday. It was, yet again, surrounded by controversy after the government announced it would begin on 1 April and last until 21 April.
The Ornis Committee, a flora and fauna government committee, had advised government that the season should be open from 5 April to 25 April. The Committee's recommendations came as a surprise after the Environment and Resources Authority categorically suggested that the season take place between 15 March and 4 April specifically to avoid the protected turtle dove, which would be in peak migration around the time of the spring hunting season as laid out by government.
Hunters are only allowed to hunt quail and are explicitly prohibited from hunting turtle doves, which begs the question as to why the authorities failed to divert the hunting period to a time where there is less risk of shooting down the protected turtle dove.
Asked about whether any new concerns emerge from this particular season, Sultana said that currently there are uniformed police officers at many fields which hunters frequent, however this is expected because under the EU derogation awarded to Malta they are required to be present.
"So far migration is very low, so the number of shots is on the low side. We expect it to pick up on the days, and with it, the number of shots being fired."
His concerns are not new, or any less justified. The main problem which grips the nation in terms of illegal hunting, and in many other areas, is a lack of resources to enforce laws.
To try and counter this, the NGO has increased the times where both local and foreign volunteers are stationed at strategic camps to monitor hunting activities. This year, the camps were set up early and will remain in place until sometime in May.
The positions of the camps depend on weather conditions such as wind and visibility, always choosing the best vantage points. Volunteers make observations, such as the number of hunters spotted, whether they witnessed any illegalities, how many shots have been fired and other activity.
He explained that this data is then correlated with the official figures by the Wildlife Bird Regulation Unit on what the hunters have actually declared to have shot.
By law, hunters are supposed to notify WBRU every time they shoot a bird via a text message.
Sultana despairingly highlighted the official figures for both 2017 hunting seasons, where hunters claimed to have shot less than 230 birds.
"Hunters are clearly under-declaring and are failing to participate with the text-messaging system."
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2Jh4myM
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