Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1107757
19 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 APRIL 2019 Mikiel Galea Lead ammunition threat for hunters THE Federation for Hunting & Con- servation (FKNK) president Joseph Perici Calascione, and CEO Lino Far- rugia, the Malta delegates of FACE (the European Federation for Hunting & Conservation), participated at the FACE 2019 conference on 'wild' chal- lenges for hunting and conservation' in Amsterdam. During the members' meeting, the Maltese delegates detailed FKNK's in- cessant work to reinstate the tradition- al socio-cultural passions of turtle dove spring hunting and live finch trapping. In his address on the topic 'Is there a future for lead ammunition?', Mr Pietro Fiocchi, President of Fiocchi of America, and in representation of AFEMS (Association of European Manufacturers of Sporting Ammuni- tion), explained in detail the rather bleak immediate future of lead in ammunition that hunters are facing. Moreover, lead-use opponent Dr Ruth Cromie from the Wildlife and Wet- lands Trust (UK), said that they have been pressurising the European Com- mission to declare a total ban on lead ammunition. Lino Farrugia, who also holds the position of FACE Vice-President for the Mediterranean Region, whilst ac- knowledging the lead issue challenge, expressed his concerns that: "The abolition of lead ammunition and the proposed replacements, such as steel and bismuth, will substantially raise the cost of shotgun cartridges; several shot- guns, especially older ones, will in all probability be put out of use; a similar fate will befall airguns, while the pro- duction of non-lead rifle bullets below the 6.5 calibre is not possible. Thus, over 300,000 Mediterranean traditional hunters, including all hunters of the Maltese islands, could eventually find it financially unaffordable to pursue their passions." In stark contrast to BirdLife Malta's unfailing negative attitude, the FKNK delegates welcomed Ariel Brunner of BirdLife International during the con- ference topic "Ensuring the Sustain- ability of Migratory Bird Hunting". Mr Brunner refreshingly acknowledged Malta's efforts and relative enforce- ment to seriously curtail illegal activi- ties, adding that in the past this used to be incorrectly termed as "illegal hunt- ing", and Malta's modern real-time bag records SMS reporting system. Daniel Xriha, FKNK Demotion for Maltese press freedom AS expected, Malta was demoted 12 places in the Reporters Without Bor- ders flagship annual 'World Press Free- dom Index', which revealed how world- wide, authoritarian regimes continue to tighten their grip on the media, while in Europe, decline of press freedom goes hand in hand with an erosion of institutions. What I cannot understand is why the RSF ranking did not reflect this situ- ation earlier in the day, that is right after Daphne Caruana Galizia was as- sassinated. Even before that, though of course not as serious, was the existence of criminal libel which has now been outlawed: newspaper editors could be threatened with jail simply for not pub- lishing a right of reply. And of course, there has always been the chilling effect of spurious defamation lawsuits and the withholding of advertising revenue from both private and public sponsors. What is clear, and I speak as some- one who has worked with the press in my career in marketing, is that Malta needs to protect journalists more. And a start to this would be to recognise the vital important of the industry, not just with rights but also with obligations. While the Maltese journalism indus- try should be made to comply with the onerous obligations of fair journalism so that it can raise its standards, jour- nalists should also be protected by laws that outlaw any aggravated assault on journalists. This should apply not just to physical acts of aggression, but also to psychological pressure on journal- ists who get badgered on social media by trolls, threatened on these fora, and also personally approached by detrac- tors and the people they write about to bring about fear and to subdue them. I hope we can one day see these peo- ple being free to pursue their duty and responsibility without fear and favour. Carlo Fantani, Brescia Letters & Clarifications