Hunters and trappers could be in for a field day during this week’s Valletta migration summit as police, including the environmental enforcement unit, are assigned to special duties.
A number of officers from the Administrative Law Enforcement Unit, tasked with monitoring hunting and trapping activities, have confirmed that they have been assigned to tasks related to the summit being held on Wednesday and Thursday.
Yet the government is adamant the season for hunting and trapping will not be closed.
This raises questions as to whether Malta can meet its commitments with the European Commission to dedicate a number of law enforcement officers to ensure quotas and illegalities are monitored. There are 5,005 active trapping licences, apart from the usual hunters out in the field during the autumn season. The autumn hunting season involves no exemption so there is no specific number committed, yet police officers are meant to monitor both activities.
The exemption from the EU Birds Directive for trapping implemented by the government committed to a ratio of seven officers per 1,000 licences during the hours of the open season.
Most of the discrepancy will be compensated for by army and RIU personnel
A minimum of 35 officers should be on duty between Malta and Gozo. ALE officer numbers are usually complemented by district police and army officers, as long as there is at least one ALE officer with every group.
This is because ALE officers receive specialised training for environmental law enforcement – they know how to identify which birds can be legally targeted or not, and are familiar with the law and quotas permitted. They cannot easily be replaced by other law enforcement officers not trained for the task.
When the Wild Birds Regulation Unit was asked how it would be addressing this situation and whether it considered closing the trapping season during these days because of the derogation (exemption) implemented, the unit referred this newspaper to the police, which has no authority to take that decision.
Further queries by this newspaper resulted in an admission that the number of ALE officers would be reduced, but most of that discrepancy would be compensated by personnel from the army and the rapid intervention unit – officers not trained for the task.
The government said these officers would be assisted by “the Specialist Enforcement Branch of the WBRU”, a handful of people, mostly hunters themselves.
Yet police officers have informed this newspaper that the plan so far is to have one car in the north, one in the south and one to cover the centre of the island. Each car will have two officers. This situation will last from tomorrow until Friday.
The scenario is expected to be repeated during the Commonwealth summit. Details have not yet been laid out as the officers have been told CHOGM will be dealt with later.
This situation does not only affect ALE officers but also district police, which carries repercussions for citizens requiring police assistance while the summits are ongoing.
Police officers are on “stop leave” status for the entire month, in order to give priority to the summits’ security.