Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/483475
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 22 MARCH 2015 News 13 "MALTA never negotiated the opening of a spring hunting season, as has repeatedly been alleged by the negative campaign organised by hunters," Mark Sultana, Spring Hunting Out (SHout) campaign spokesperson, said. Sultana explained that in the ac- cession treaty in 2003, Malta com- mitted itself to abide by the EU laws on bird protection. He quoted ver- batim from the treaty: 'Malta is allowed to continue trap- ping of seven finch species until end 2008 under Directive 79/409/ EEC on wild birds. These birds can be captured only by traditional nets known as clap-nets and exclusively for the purpose of keeping them in captivity. During the transition pe- riod, a captive breeding system will be established. This will ensure that these birds can further on be kept in aviaries and cages in line with the acquis. All other aspects of the birds directive will apply as of accession.' "The treaty never referred to a spring hunting derogation in Malta. The law on bird protection provides member states with the possibility to derogate, but it does not mean that the derogation will be accept- ed. In fact, when Malta applied a derogation to open spring hunting it was taken to task by the European Court of Justice and found to be in breach of the directive," continued Sultana. Contrary to misleading claims by the 'Iva' campaign, spring hunting in Malta is not 'approved by the EU', with the European Commission's case against Malta for illegal spring hunting remaining open. At the time of EU accession in 2004, no formal agreement was made allowing Malta to continue hunting in spring, however a spring hunting season was opened each year until the European Commis- sion intervened in 2007, taking Malta to court for 'failing to provide adequate protection for birds'. On 10 September, 2009, the Eu- ropean Court of Justice ruled that Malta was guilty of allowing illegal spring hunting. The court stated that, 'The hunting of these migra- tory birds takes place [...] before they have had a chance to repro- duce. The impact on bird numbers is therefore more significant than it would be in autumn or winter, after the breeding season'. The court confirmed that spring hunting resulted in a mortality rate some three times higher for quails and eight times higher for turtle doves than for the autumn hunting season. Sultana added that, "This idea of spring hunting being 'approved by the EU' is yet another piece of misinformation from the hunters' campaign designed to mislead the public. Killing birds on their way to breed is illegal under EU law, Malta was found guilty by the highest court in the European Union and a case is still open." 'Malta never negotiated spring hunting with the EU' – SHout TEODOR RELJIC THE possibility of a monorail serv- ice in Malta has been something of a transport-related pie in the sky for quite some time, with several mav- erick proposals popping up over the years to present a solution to Malta's persistent public transport problem. Now that the government has hint- ed the proposal could solidify into a bona fide reality if the stars match up in its favour, a duo of civil engineer- ing graduates have set up a lucid and comprehensive website outlining the nuts and bolts of the (theoreti- cal) process, presenting speculative blueprints of routes, financial break- downs and technical details of po- tential vehicles to be employed. Spurred on by the announcement that the government will be taking the monorail proposal seriously this time around – a €1.49 billion mono- rail proposal was submitted by Malta to the European Investment Ini- tiative last December – Luke Lapira and Justin Zarb have set up www. maltarail.org. In their own words, Maltarail aims to examine "some ar- chitectural and technical aspects of a hypothetical monorail infrastructure in Malta, with the aim of providing a platform for discussion and some reference for any future studies". Lapira and Zarb argue that a 'grade- separated' transport system would work best for Malta. Since most Mal- tese villages sprawl outwards from the village core, usually from a par- ish church – and only a few villages are suburbs to larger towns – the urban landscape is of especially nar- row streets in the village core, with wider streets appearing towards the outskirts, or the more recently con- structed areas. This situation practically invites a monorail system given that it would ease traffic congestion – which will only keep getting worse as both gen- eral affluence and life expectancy continue to rise. Zarb and Lapira al- so point out that "the immigration of expert staff by the successful gaming and financial sector as well as immi- gration of unskilled labour for work not supplied by the newly affluent Maltese is a recent reality. These all acquire cars once established". While admitting that the phenom- enon isn't only limited to Malta, but is a reality for all major cities around the world, Malta is still unique in that it offers very poor alternatives to car travel given that the current bus system remains problematic. "Nearly all cities have better developed cop- ing mechanisms such as: light and heavy rail, bike sharing schemes, road charging, number plate bans, car free zones etc," writes Neville Zammit for Zarb and Lapira's web- site. This situation further bolsters the argument in favour of a monorail service, which would address a per- sistent problem on Maltese roads: the fact that private cars and public transport are nearly always compet- ing for the same space. But whichever variant of the monorail ends up being chosen for Malta would have to 'share the load' with other methods of transporta- tion, given that more remote areas away from village cores would not be reachable via a monorail system. However, Zarb and Lapira stress that these 'transit areas' should never be too large, since commuters may then be tempted to resort to their private vehicles again. A monorail system would also be preferable to a 'light rail' variant of the kind employed by London's DLR since, while this may give the rail an 'exclusive' lane on the roads, "Malta's congested dense urban fabric as well as frequent sites of archaeological or natural importance complicate these operations". Arriva's brief use of 'bendy buses' illustrated these problems clearly, indicating that "introducing light rail on to road infrastructure would probably be problematic". Zarb and Lapira also contend that a monorail would be an economically healthy option in reduced usage of private transport, savings in park- ing, and reduced tailgate emissions. "It becomes increasingly apparent that a system such as the monorail could prove cost-beneficial both to the Maltese economy and the com- muters." Monorail proposal dissected on user-friendly portal years since action plan pooned and correctly-sized speci- mens. The list will be published and the scheme will be regulated through a certification process. The grouper is already included in the Flora, Fauna and Natural Habitats Protection Regulations of 2006, which comprises animals and plants of national interest and whose exploitation may be subject to management measures. Until a few years ago, groupers were in dramatic decline around the Mediterranean. Marine re- serves slowed down the decline, and they can now be encountered in reasonably high densities, thanks also to moratoria and the ban on spear fishing for groupers. However, according to the 2011 report the situation in Malta has remained much the same, since no such moratoria exist and encoun- ters with groupers are still very sporadic and rare. SHout spokesman Mark Sultana (left): "Spring Hunting is not approved by the EU" Artist's impressions, clockwise from top: section of rail near a generic seafront, the Paola MCAST and the B'Kara Bypass