Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/561386
6 THE Nationalist party has wel- comed the latest statistics on the number of gainfully occupied per- sons, pointing out that full-time employment had increased by 4.3% largely as a result of a 5.5% in- crease in full-time employment in the private sector. "The public sector headcount in- creased again by over 500 persons between March of last year and the corresponding month this year and again surpassed the 44,000 mark," the PN added in their statement. Adding that recognising that the public sector ratio of employment to total employment has fallen from 27% to 26.2%, the Opposition calls on the government to ensure that the private sector continues to be the driving force behind the Maltese economy and that pub- lic sector employment is kept in check. Yesterday, statistics published by the NSO showed that over a period of one year, the labour supply (ex- cluding part-timers) had increased by 3.1%, reaching 174,030. It add- ed that the increase was mainly attributed to an increase in the full-time gainfully occupied popu- lation (6,972) and a drop in regis- tered unemployment (1,750). In a statement in reaction to the statistics, the government pointed out that the private sector has seen an added 10,200 people in full- time employment since the begin- ning of the administration, which translates to eight out of every ten jobs created. "Full time public employment currently stands at 26.2% of total full-time employment, whereas under the previous administration this figure was at 26.7%," the gov- ernment said, adding that develop- ments had removed pressure from the public sector, but that the gov- ernment had increased resources in the public services sector any- way. "There are currently 1,200 more employees in the public health and education services sector com- pared to the previous adminis- tration," it added, explaining that statistics had also shown 800 new jobs in Gozo. maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 26 AUGUST 2015 News PN says private sector should remain driving force of local economy Hunters and BirdLife at loggerheads over illegal bird killing report MIRIAM DALLI BIRDLIFE Malta has expressed "huge disappointment" over the reactions of St Hubert's Hunters and hunters' federation FKNK to a report by BirdLife International over the illegal killing of birds. Maltese hunters have vehe- mently rejected reports that an average of 108,000 birds are killed illegally in Malta every year. Ac- cording to BirdLife Malta, the 108,000 figure does not include 11,000 turtle doves and 5,000 quails which are killed under the spring hunting derogation. Both St Hubert's Hunters (KSU) and FKNK have dubbed figures supplied by BirdLife Malta to BirdLife International as "exag- gerated" and "deceitful". "It is hugely disappointing that, once again, rather than condemning illegal hunting and working together to eradicate it, both KSU and FKNK have sought instead to attack and discredit BirdLife Malta for bringing it to light," BirdLife said, contacted for a reaction. This month, BirdLife Interna- tional issued a scientific report revealing that 25 million birds are illegally slaughtered in the Mediterranean every year. BirdLife and Partners have uncovered the shocking extent to which a number of birds are being illegally killed, putting to- gether a list of the ten countries with the highest estimated an- nual death toll. Although countries currently hit by conflict, such as Syria and Libya, feature high in the rank- ings, some European nations also fare poorly. Italy (where 5.6 million birds are estimated to be killed ille- gally every year) is second only to Egypt for the estimated mean number of illegal killings each year, with the Famagusta area of Cyprus the single worst location in the Mediterranean. Other European countries fea- turing in the top 10 are; Greece (mean estimate of 0.7 million birds killed annually), France (0.5 million), Croatia (0.5 million) and Albania (0.3 million). Despite not ranking in the top 10 overall, Malta is still seeing the region's highest estimated number of birds illegally killed per square kilometre. The esti- mate is of 340 birds killed illegal- ly for every square kilometre. "At the time of collating in- formation for BirdLife Interna- tional's report on illegal killing of birds in the Mediterranean, BirdLife Malta had asked for col- laboration and feedback from the hunting representatives on the Ornis committee – Lino Far- rugia and Joe Perici Calascione from FKNK," a spokesperson for BirdLife Malta said. "However, they refused to pro- vide input and instead resorted to publicly attacking the process." The spokesperson said that government representatives from the Wild Birds Regulation Unit were also consulted: "Hunting organisations should be tackling this issue, not apologising for it [number of illegal killings]." But the two hunting organisa- tions in Malta insist that the fig- ures gathered by BirdLife Malta are exaggerated, fallacious and far off from reality. "Suffice it to say that this report even considers the legal shooting of turtle doves and quails under derogation as part of the illegal killing, notwithstanding the clo- sure of spring hunting infringe- ment procedures by the Europe- an Commission," KSU president Mark Mifsud Bonnici said. KSU rejected BirdLife's find- ings as "spurious and damaging" and as "vile propaganda". "The adverse publicity attrib- uted to Malta as "Europe's black spot" or "bird hell" is disproved by Birdlife's own report, since even their exaggerated figures pale into insignificance compared to those of other countries," Mifsud Bon- nici said. "BirdLife Malta should stick to the truth and spare Malta the embarrassment and harm of their anti hunting extremism." BirdLife International pub- lished its first review on Friday and was picked up by local me- dia over the weekend. FKNK, in its reaction, said that the report had been in the public domain since last year and claim that it was "coincidentally picked on the eve of the opening of the autumn hunting season". FKNK said that last December, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) had countered the Re- port "through sound scientific data). Accusing BirdLife Malta of deceit, FKNK said that BirdLife considered itself above the law for considering "illegal" an activity that may be legal under national law or derogation. FKNK went on to add that BirdLife Malta and BirdLife In- ternational have refused "to hon- our" a 2009 agreement between the European Federation of As- sociations for Hunting and Con- servation (FACE) and BirdLife International; the respective Eu- ropean Court of Justice ruling of 10 September, 2009; and the lo- cal referendum result of 12 April, 2015. "[These] endorsed the ECJ rul- ing that spring hunting is possi- ble by application of derogation and thus perfectly legal. The EU dropped the infringements against Malta in this respect im- mediately following the referen- dum result," FKNK said. It also criticised BirdLife Malta for not contacting FKNK during its information gathering. "In the FKNK's opinion, it is high time that the local authori- ties stop such BLM damage, disseminated through deceitful information, outright lies, gross exaggerations and half-truths, not just for local hunters and trappers, all Maltese citizens, but also for the Maltese islands' repu- tation in general. This BLM be- haviour will not protect Malta's avifauna." Hunters dubbed BirdLife's report on illegal bird killing as 'propaganda' Republic Street, Valletta next to the Courts