Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/670480
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 24 APRIL 2016 9 News swimming pools fast-tracking excluded. The new summary procedure will also apply to the construc- tion of new residential build- ings with up to 16 dwelling units and parking facilities – as long as they are not located in urban conservation areas, ODZ or villa areas. Chimneys and flues, exten- sions to dwellings in the devel- opment zone and basements will also benefit from the fast-track procedure when located within the development zone and out- side historical village cores. The procedure will also apply to development notification or- ders (DNOs) for minor develop- ments such as washrooms and air-conditioning units, which are already approved in the absence of public hearings informed of any such development. Appli- cations will pass the scrutiny of three persons: the case officer who will consider whether it conforms to existing policies, his senior who will endorse the re- port and finally the chairperson of the Planning Commission. Europe 'asking questions' about spring hunting season TIM DIACONO THE European Commission has formally asked the Maltese gov- ernment to justify why it opened a spring hunting season this year, BirdLife Malta has revealed. "This clearly shows how du- bious the sustainability of the spring hunting season is and how mistaken the government was to open the season," BirdLife presi- dent Daryl Grima told a press conference. He argued that the EC's request came in light of a recent report by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature that shows that European turtle dove populations have plummeted by 80% in the past 30 years. Malta's spring hunting season will run until 30 April, with the government setting the total tur- tle dove quota at 5,000 birds. It announced this as a "conserva- tion measure", referring to a re- duction from previous years' quo- tas of 11,000 turtle doves. However, BirdLife's conserva- tion officer Nick Barbara ques- tioned the scientific rationale be- hind the 5,000 bird quota. "During this week's Ornis Com- mittee, we asked the Wild Birds' Regulation Unit head [Sergei Golovkin] for the scientific rea- soning behind the new quota but he was unable to provide it," he said. BirdLife chief executive Mark Sultana said that the Ornis com- mittee's decision to open this year's spring hunting season was based on political, rather than sci- entific, justification. "It will be difficult for the gov- ernment to cite political argu- ments with the European Com- mission," he said. "The EC didn't raise questions when the season quota was set at 11,000 turtle doves, and yet is now doing so when the quota has been reduced to 5,000 birds. This is because the goalposts have changed after the IUCN's report, and the tur- tle dove is now in a vulnerable state. This could also mean that Malta is breaching a ruling on the season by the European Court of Justice." The German-based Committee Against Bird Slaughter (CABS) said on Friday that fewer pro- tected birds are now being shot at over Malta. However, Sultana argued that few birds have flown over Malta since the season opened last week and that illegalities have only de- clined because hunters are scared of getting arrested. "We fear that they will start tar- geting protected birds more ram- pantly as soon as enforcement is loosened," he said. He added that the law that re- quires seven police officers to be deployed per 1,000 hunters is not being adhered to. "A sergeant of the Administra- tive Law Enforcement told the Ornis Committee that there are currently 50 officers in the field. Since there are 10,000 registered hunters in Malta, that number is still too low." WBRU reaction In a reaction, the Wild Birds unit said Birdlife was attempting to mislead the public on spring hunting. "The organisation's statements omitted the fact that Birdlife Malta's representatives on the Ornis Committee voted in sup- port of the motion that recom- mends to the government that, in view of the recent reclassification of the Turtle Dove as a 'vulner- able' IUCN Red List species and a 'near-threatened' species at EU27 level, the government should ap- ply special measures to further re- duce the impact of spring hunting on the population of that species. "This recommendation was adopted unanimously at the Ornis sitting on 25th February 2016. This recommendation was adopted following extensive de- liberations held over four previ- ous Ornis sessions during which the Wild Birds Regulation Unit presented to the Committee vol- umes of scientific and technical data, in order to enable the Com- mittee to make an informed rec- ommendation." The WBRU said it presented Ornis with a report on the out- come of the 2015 spring hunt- ing derogation, reports of turtle dove and quail migration studies conducted in autumn and spring 2015, a scientific assessment of the conservation status of turtle dove and quail, as well as detailed analysis of turtle dove and quail bags reported during previous autumn. "In order to dispel Birdlife Malta's misleading claim that the government 'failed to present scientific data', the Wild Birds Regulations Unit is publishing all these reports and data present- ed to Ornis as well as approved minutes of Committee meetings where these reports were debat- ed." Subsequent to the Ornis rec- ommendation, the government reduced the length of the spring season from three weeks to two weeks, reduced hunting hours from 2pm to noon on weekdays, reduced the national quota of tur- tle dove from 11,000 birds to only 5,000, shortened the length of the autumn season for turtle dove from five months to one month only, and imposed a national quo- ta of 7,000 birds in the autumn. The WBRU said that the turtle dove species remains part of An- nex II/B of the Birds Directive, and indeed is hunted extensively in nine EU Member States, apart from Malta. Technical and scientific reports presented to Ornis in the course of its deliberations, as well as the approved minutes of Ornis meetings where the issue was discussed are enclosed for pub- lication. Also enclosed are the statistics pertaining to enforce- ment during past spring hunting seasons. Photo of a dead turtle dove released by CABS