Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1360420
11 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 APRIL 2021 OPINION Spring hunting is wrong for more than one reason gists, compared to the early efforts of, say, Sir Themistocles Zammit in the 1920s. So there is literally no telling how much of this priceless information would be irretrievably lost… if the Planning Authority were to really do the unthinkable, and approve what Dr Malone so rightly described as a 'mon- strosity' of a project. Sadly, however, a lot of this undiscovered archaeological treasure-trove has already been irretrievably lost. The same aerial photos, showing the sheer proximity of this appli- cation to Ggantija, also reveal that Xaghra's relentless rib- bon-development has already eaten into significant portions of the same buffer-zone. I don't even want to imagine how much of our irreplaceable cultural heritage has already been utterly demolished, with each chunk of earth that was scooped out in the construc- tion of all those buildings. But by the same token: I can't im- agine what excuse the Planning Authority could possibly come up to with, either, to so much as dream of permitting the destruction of another square inch today…. Erm… no, wait, maybe I can. It will probably be the same old excuse they always come up with it: i.e., that it is only their job to implement Malta's exist- ing Planning and Development Policies; not to actually draw them up themselves. And – utterly insane as this may sound, to any civilised ears – Malta's planning policies do actually designate parts of that site (including the footprint of the application in question) to the permissible development zone. Having said that: it doesn't exactly follow that the PA has to automatically approve any application – regardless of en- vironmental of heritage impact - just because the loosest inter- pretation of planning policies makes it vaguely 'permissible'. And in this case, there are al- ready strong arguments for a flat refusal: including the neg- ative recommendation of the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, among others. There is, in a word, still hope - albeit not very much - that this monumental folly may not actually go ahead at all. But as long as that buffer-zone re- mains within the established development boundaries – where it clearly has no busi- ness to be – the threat of an impending archaeological ca- lamity will still be left dangling over the Fat Lady of Ġgantija's (missing) head. And it is this – arguably more than the individual application itself – that makes this episode so truly 'monstrous', in the eyes of the rest of the world: enough, in fact, to attract attention by the foreign press). Not only are we seen to willingly obliterate our own cultural heritage, at every opportunity; but we al- so enact laws to permit – and even encourage – its continued demolition in future. That is 'monstrous' by any standard, you know; yes, even the gigantic standards of Mal- tese prehistory… BIRDLIFE Malta remains shocked at how the Maltese Government has opted to ignore all reason and remain heard-headed to derogate once again from the European Union's Birds Directive and allow hunters to kill birds dur- ing this spring. The conservation value on which the EU Birds Directive does not allow hunting in spring remains the main issue against such a practice. Birds that are returning to their breeding grounds during spring should never be hunted. It is unsustainable to kill those birds that have been natural- ly selected as the strongest and fittest after migrating to Africa, wintered there and are crossing once again the desert and the sea to eventually reach their breeding grounds. The next contro- versial issue, also noted by the Euro- pean Commission, is that while Malta sup- posedly derogates for the Common Quail (Summiena), it allows a season dur- ing the peak migra- tion of the protected and vulnerable Eu- ropean Turtle-dove (Gamiema). This smokescreen is too absurd to be left un- challenged and the European Commis- sion has already in- itiated infringement proceedings against Malta on this issue and BirdLife Malta urges it to push for- ward to stop this ab- surdity once and for all. The justification to open this year's spring hunting season is also legally challenged, both locally and at a European level, since the Government does not have valid data which shows that hunting in autumn was not a satisfactory alternative. The Govern- ment is only allowed to open a spring hunt- ing season if it can prove this and hence every year it asks the hunters to report their catches. However, during autumn 2020 on- ly 2.79% of the 10,600 licensed hunters par- ticipated in the Carnet de Chasse. This was the basis of a judicial protest filed in Court by BirdLife Malta against the Government. It is another absurdity that the Govern- ment wants the European Commission and the general public to believe that less than 300 hunters caught at least a single bird out of over 40 huntable species in five whole months! Two different issues in this year's spring hunting season compared to previous years are the substantial increase of registered hunters that have now surpassed 8,200 and the quota of quails permissible to hunt which has more than halved from 5,000 in previous years to 2,400 this year. The rea- son for this is because the Common Quail is also decreasing in numbers. It is sad to see how while a bird struggles in its survival rate, Malta allows hunters to kill it a few weeks before it breeds. This is illogical, im- moral and unethical and definitely unsus- tainable. Finally another reason that one needs to consider in terms of the validity, or not, of such a hunting season is the social aspect of it. To al- low hunters out with guns on public land during a pandemic that is forcing peo- ple to have their on- ly few moments of relaxation out in na- ture is unthoughtful and unfair. To add insult to injury, with the amount of money that such a hunting season will cost our country, (in police officers, adminis- tration and possible eventual legal costs), is outrageous. While our economy is hav- ing its major hit in the past ten years, and we have yet to see the light on the other side of the tun- nel, spending any amount for the pleasure of 8,000 individuals to kill birds and disturb the peace of the rest of society is nothing short of being anti-social and short sighted. We urge those that share this sentiment to join BirdLife Malta and other eNGOs to push for better decision-making in fa- vor of Malta's natural beauty and to bring our country truly in line with the Europe- an Green Deal. We urge the Government to look beyond its political desire of vo- tecatching to the detriment of natural re- sources and hence the common good. Fi- nally we urge the European Union to step in to protect our resources since the Mal- tese government is failing to see the sign of times. Mark Sultana is BirdLife Malta CEO Mark Sultana To allow hunters out with guns on public land during a pandemic that is forcing people to have their only few moments of relaxation out in nature is unthoughtful and unfair