Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/475084
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 8 MARCH 2015 9 News tance. Brincat also spoke of the need of more bird sanctuaries to enable more birds to nest here. "I have read that a bird which went to a place which it liked would return to that place and look for the same tree and the same branch, from year to year," he said. Despite the introduction of the close season and the government's good intentions, illegality remained rampant. Writing in 1981, young ac- tivist Saviour Balzan, while welcom- ing the new law, complained that the close season existed only in name and as he was writing "shooting goes on in the fields around Attard and elsewhere". Balzan also proposed the setting up of a small unit of police- man dedicated to hunting infringe- ments. Hunters take to the streets It was in September 1983 that thou- sands of hunters assembled in Rabat to counter a march organised by the Malta Ornithological Society (MOS, the precursor of BirdLife Malta) a few weeks earlier during which hunt- ers threw stones at them. Lawrence Vella, president of the Ghaqda Kaccaturi u Nassaba (pre- cursor of the FKNK federation) condemned the stone throwing in- cident but warned ornithologists to be careful not to insult hunters and trappers. He also insisted that hunters did not want to be hindered by a small number of people with binoculars. The protest also marked a turning point in the hunting debate, with the association commencing its strategy of blackmailing political parties who were called on by Vella to "declare their principles with regard to hunt- ing and trapping in their electoral manifesto." Moreover Vella also called for amendments to the law, arguing that "if there had to be a close season" it should be a shorter one and adjusted according to the species of bird in- volved. He called on the government to change the law because the ex- perience of the past three years had shown that various provisions of the 1980 law were not practical. The hunters carried placards with slogans mainly directed against the MOS and calling for the legalisation of bird stuffing. A number of posters compared German conservationist groups which had protested against hunting in Malta to the Nazis. Alfred Zammit, the secretary of the hunters' association, disputed the claim that Malta was an important migratory route for birds and argued that more birds were shot at in other European countries. The Times reported that towards the end of the meeting hunters took away a notebook from a young wom- an who had to be escorted out of the square by the police. jdebono@mediatoday.com.mt the hunting season e Malta Environment & Planning Authority (MEPA) is responsible for land use planning and environmental regulation in Malta. e overall objective of this Request for Information is the provision of Direct Action Services for the Removal of Illegal Development as Directed by MEPA. e Request for Information document can be downloaded from the MEPA website on the following link: http://www.mepa.org.mt/info-requests. Sealed responses are to be delivered by recorded delivery (ocial registered postal service) to: Director Corporate Services, Malta Environment & Planning Authority, St Francis Ravelin, Floriana or by e-mail to tenders@mepa.org.mt by Friday, 27th March, 2015 before 1000 hrs (Central European Time). Any questions concerning this Request for Information should be addressed to the Director of Corporate Services on email tenders@mepa.org.mt by not later than Friday, 13th March, 2015 before 4.00p.m. is is not a call for tenders and MEPA reserves the right not to consider any of the information received in the response to the Request for Information, or parts of. Late submissions will not be considered REQUEST FOR INFORMATION FOR THE PROVISION OF DIRECT ACTION SERVICES FOR THE REMOVAL OF ILLEGAL DEVELOPMENT AS DIRECTED BY MEPA (RE-ISSUE) (Ref: RFI02/2015) Hunters did not want to be hindered by a small number of people with binoculars Former Labour Justice Minister Joe Brincat – wanted bird sanctuaries