Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/782193
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 5 FEBRUARY 2017 News TIM DIACONO THE government's decision to impose a moratorium on the hunting of turtle dove in spring means that hunters will, for the first time, only be allowed to shoot at quail when the spring hunting season opens in March. However, new scientific data on the migration of quail over Malta in autumn has raised ques- tions on whether hunters should even be allowed to hunt quail in spring. Indeed the study – carried out by Ecoserv and commissioned by the government – indicates that 69,915 quail migrated over Malta in the 2016 autumn hunting sea- son, up from 50,514 in 2015 and 54,683 in 2013. According to BirdLife Malta, this data renders the very grounds by which Malta is allowed to derogate from EU law banning hunting in spring – that not enough turtle dove and quail f ly over the island in au- tumn – null and void. "The hunters' legal argument in favour of a spring hunting season is that too few turtle dove and quail f ly over Malta in autumn for the autumn hunting season to be considered a satisfactory alter- native," BirdLife chief executive Mark Sultana told MaltaToday. "70,000 quail is surely enough to be considered satisfactory." Moreover, data gleaned from the hunters' own catch declara- tions clearly show that hunters catch far more quail in the au- tumn than in springtime. Dur- ing the spring hunting seasons of 2011 to 2016, only 1,926 quails were shot with the highest re- cord being in 2014 when 637 were killed. In contrast, during only four autumn hunting seasons from 2011 to 2014, hunters shot 17,333 quails. "Hunters are traditionally far more interested in hunting tur- tle dove than they are in hunting quail," Sultana said. "There are around 9,000 licensed hunters in Malta and yet only 133 reported catching quails last year, com- pared with over 1,000 reported catches of turtle dove. Perhaps the government should consider only granting hunting licenses for quail to hunters who have shot at quail over the past three years." However, hunting lobby FKNK dismissed BirdLife's logic, argu- ing that the autumn and spring hunting seasons cannot be com- pared like with like, given that the former lasts for five months and the latter merely three weeks. "It's easy to play with numbers and statistics, but one cannot compare and contrast a season that lasts five months with one that lasts 14 half-days," FKNK chief executive Lino Farrugia told MaltaToday. "Moreover, the numbers provided by Ecoserv are extrapolated. From personal ex- perience, I hardly encountered any quail during the last autumn season." Increase in quail bag quota next season The government in May an- nounced an indefinite morato- rium on the hunting of turtle dove in spring, after the species was classified as vulnerable by the In- ternational Union for the Conser- vation of Nature. To make the pill easier to swallow, the Ornis Com- mittee – the government's consul- tative body on hunting – has pro- posed that hunters be allowed to hunt twice as many quail this year. The seasonal bag limit is there- fore set to increase from four to 10 birds, while the daily bag limit for individual hunters will increase from two to five birds. The nation- al seasonal bag limit will remain unchanged at 5,000 birds – once this is reached, the government will be obliged to close the season. The FKNK hailed this decision as a victory of sorts, that partially compensated for the turtle dove moratorium. "Despite the comments passed by our representatives about the tradition of turtle dove hunting in spring, the Ornis committee wasn't in a position to consider this proposal," the FKNK said in a statement. "Despite these cir- cumstances, we at least managed to successfully propose a quail hunting season with a larger and more reasonable bag limit." However, BirdLife warned that the increase in bag limits means that the government is risking a situation whereby the season- al limit of 5,000 quails will be reached and exceeded without its knowledge. tdiacono@mediatoday.com.mt Logic for spring hunting of quail now null and void, BirdLife argues, as autumn migration levels shoot up to 70,000 birds Quail figures 'bely need for spring hunting season'