Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/653685
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 16 MARCH 2016 News Spring hunting opens with reduced quota, BirdLife insists scientific advice ignored MAT THEW VELLA THE government will open the 2016 spring hunting season subject to special measures in a bid to reduce the impact on turtle dove and quail of the dero- gation from the EU ban on spring hunting. The season will be open during a two- week period between 17 and 30 April, a re- duction of seven days from the maximum of three weeks allowed under the Framework Regulations. Permitted hunting hours will be reduced to between two hours before sunrise and until noon on all days, which repre- sents a reduction of two hours on each weekday. The national spring quota for turtle dove has been reduced from the maximum of 11,000 birds to just 5,000 birds. The 5,000 national quota for quail, as well as the individual daily bag limit of two birds and the maximum season's bag limit per hunter of four birds, will re- main unchanged. The autumn hunting season for turtle dove will be reduced from five months (previously between 1 September and 31 January of the following year) to the month of September only. This one month autumn hunt- ing season for turtle dove will be subject to the maximum na- tional quota of 7,000 birds. Only those persons who are issued with a Special Spring Hunting Licence for 2016 will be permitted to hunt turtle dove and quail during this two week spring season. The government said that the limited spring hunting season will be subject to stringent enforcement, and any non-compliance with appli- cable conditions and regulations will not be tolerated. BirdLife reaction BirdLife Malta said it was dis- appointed with the decision to open another spring hunting season for turtle doves, when it said the government had docu- ments that indicate that this should not take place any more. "Instead of giving value to sci- entific facts based on research, the government has taken the wrong decision to open another spring hunting season on the turtle dove. In the past year, the turtle dove's status has gone from bad to worse and is now in a vulnerable status. Its num- bers have decreased by 30% in 15 years. These are facts that nobody can deny," BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana said. BirdLife said that when sci- entific information is being ne- glected year after another, and the government takes a decision purely on a political basis, there may be the need for this deci- sion to be taken by the public. The numbers of birds killed and declared by hunters are far from the truth, and measures to be sure that the quotas declared are not fictitious are hard to en- force. "The government, with the advice of the Wild Birds Regulation Unit within the Par- liamentary Secretariat for Ag- riculture, Fisheries and Animal Rights, prefers to believe the declarations made by those who kill the birds while ignoring the scientific facts," Sultana said. "Spring hunting is unsustain- able and killing birds on their last step from their breeding grounds goes against the values of conservation. Malta remains the only country in the Euro- pean Union to allow hunting of turtle dove in spring." Performing Arts Festival www.teatrumanoel.com.mt • bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt • T: (+356) 21246389 Orphée: Hadar Halevy (16th & 19th), Lucia Cirillo (17th & 20th) • Eurydice: Gillian Zammit • Amour: Francesca Aquilina Malta Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Mro Philip Walsh with the participation of ŻfinMalta, Choreography by Mavin Khoo Directed by Denise Mulholland Set Design by Pierre Portelli • Costume Design by Luke Azzopardi 16, 17, 19, 20 March 2016, 8.00 p.m. Pre-opera talk 7.15 p.m. 1859 Berlioz revision Christoph Willibald Gluck Spring hunting season for turtle dove and quail to open on 17 April