Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/530451
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 21 JUNE 2015 18 News TIM DIACONO THE European turtle dove's new 'vulnerable' status has added ur- gency for Malta to stop hunting it in spring, BirdLife Europe has warned. "We believe that the current spring hunting of turtle dove in Malta does not comply with the strict requirements of the Birds Directive," Birdlife's European Species Programme Officer Christina Ieronymidou told Mal- taToday. "The worsening con- servation status of the European turtle dove makes the spring hunting derogation even less justified and adds urgency to the need for Malta to fully comply with its legal obligations." A recent report by the Interna- tional Union of Conservation of Nature, the world's oldest and largest environmental network, placed the European turtle dove on the European red list of en- dangered species, after its popu- lations plummeted by 80% since the 1980s. BirdLife Europe has acknowl- edged that the turtle dove's de- cline is primarily due to a loss of breeding and foraging habitat, but has warned that unsustain- able levels of hunting during mi- gration is a contributory factor that could become more serious as turtle dove populations con- tinue to decline. They have there- fore called for an assessment on the hunting of the species. However, local hunting fed- eration FKNK has dismissed any correlation between the turtle dove's new vulnerable status and Malta's spring hunting season. "The European turtle dove's decline is largely due to the de- struction of its habitats," FKNK CEO executive Lino Farrugia told MaltaToday. "Hunting is not the main cause for its decline and Malta's spring hunting sea- son is insignificant to the greater picture. "The IUCN doesn't care about Malta's spring hunting season," he said, arguing that the turtle dove quarry shot down in Malta is just a small fraction of those shot down in Europe. Yet the European Commission has warned that the situation has changed since the EU Court's most recent spring hunting judgement. "The data available at the time of the Court's judgement in the Maltese spring hunting case for this year indicated that the two species [turtle dove and quail] concerned by the derogation could not be considered as vul- nerable," a spokesperson for the European Environment Com- mission told MaltaToday. "Taking this into account, the Court stressed that the propor- tionality principle applies when derogations are granted and that spring hunting would be allowed as long as it is strictly necessary and without jeopardising the ob- jectives of the Birds Directive. "The situation has in the mean- while changed. One of the two species subject to the spring hunting derogation in Malta over the last years, the turtle dove, is now 'vulnerable' and its short and long term prospects indicate decline." The Commission added that it is now up to the Maltese au- thorities to draw on this recent scientific data and prove that any future spring hunting derogation doesn't place further undue pres- sure on the turtle dove or jeop- ardise its conservation status. The government has so far re- mained tight-lipped about the implications of the turtle dove's new status on Malta's controver- sial spring hunting season. In response to such questions by MaltaToday, agriculture par- liamentary secretary Roderick Galdes simply said that the gov- ernment always takes the most recent scientific information into account before making a decision on whether to open the spring hunting season or not. "We will take full account of all data, including the IUCN's, before making a decision on the 2016 spring hunting season," Galdes said. "There is no change to the government's approach." Opposition MP Charlo Bon- nici, the PN's spokesperson on hunting, said that the Nationalist Party must analyse the IUCN's technical report in full before reaching an official stance. "The Ornis Committee will have ample time to analyse and discuss the implications of this report," Bonnici said, referring to the government's consulta- tive body on hunting regulations, which has been heavily criticised for its bias towards the hunting lobby. "They are technical ex- perts on hunting and I am sure that they will discuss this report's implications on the spring hunt- ing season, as they do all related scientific developments." Ornis chairman Mark Anthony Falzon has refused to speak to this newspaper about Ornis-re- lated matters. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt TURKIYE GENEL 14.5x18cm ING.indd 1 6/4/15 10:10 AM BirdLife's urgent appeal to end hunting of turtle dove in spring Vulnerable turtle dove population now risking more than ever of becoming just an image of the past