Hunting groups have offered their support to the government after the European Commission opened infringement proceedings against Malta concerning the research derogation related to the seven species of wild finches.
The FKNK said that now in its fourth consecutive year, the Finches Research Programme (FRP) is endorsed and supported by the Federation for Hunting and Conservation – Malta (FKNK).
“Following a quick read-through of the infringement formal notice letter, the FKNK believes that BLM and EURING instigated the infringement as a ‘pay-back’ gesture against Malta’s recent amendment to the relevant legislation, which removed any direct reference to EURING. This is totally unrelated to the conservation of finches, all of which enjoy a healthy ‘least concern’ conservation status in the wild. EURING is not an authority, but another organisation that coordinates bird-ringing schemes.”
“It was therefore unprincipled and possibly illegal for EURING to be specifically mentioned in the local regulations in a manner that prevented any other bird-ringing scheme from operating in Malta. Moreover, this granted BLM’s scheme a self-designated monopoly on local bird ringing from the early eighties to the present, precisely because EURING is BLM’s bird ringing records databank.”
“Therefore, in the FKNK’s humble opinion, the insults and unfounded, BLM-influenced assumptions in the vocabulary of the letter, such as the allegation that the FRP has scientific purposes, does not pursue genuine research, is hunting in disguise and the ‘cherry on the cake’ that it does not ensure appropriate enforcement, are not becoming of the EC and clearly reflect the language we have all become accustomed to from BLM.”
“The FKNK vows to continue safeguarding the interests of its trapper members by offering expert advice on this issue to the Maltese government, particularly to the Honourable Minister Clint Camilleri and his legal team.”
Kaccaturi San Ubertu statement
Kaccaturi San Ubertu said it considers the European Commission’s latest infringement procedure against an ongoing research programme on finches as nothing less than “a blatant blind show of support for Birdlife Malta that has long strived to ban trapping in Malta simply because it abhors the practice even if used as a scientific tool.”
When one considers the repeated actions by the Commission in the light of the 2008 “massive two-year information campaign against bird trapping by Birdlife after the European Commission approved funding for the €350,000 project, it becomes pretty clear that the Commission, in the case of Malta, has no intention of permitting trapping or even considering it as a means to study birds.”
“In all its action against trapping, the Commission infallibly refers to the lack of ornithological data for the Maltese Islands, which before the trapper’s initiative was solely conducted by Birdlife Malta. It now acts against a study aimed at addressing this shortcoming purely on the deceitful allegations of Birdlife Malta. With it’s years of a monopoly on Bird Ringing and Euring, Birdlife Malta openly opposed the changes in our laws that permitted hunters or trappers to become bird ringers and their right to form ringing schemes.”
“The European Commission persists in its denigration of Malta’s trappers with no intention to verify fact but based purely on the fabrications of Birdlife Malta, an organization it funded and blindly supported to ban bird trapping.”
“In the light of all the above Kaċċaturi San Ubertu offers it full assistance to Government to see justice done. “