Illegal bird ringing in Malta

As president of the European Union for Bird Ringing (EURING), I have been following ongoing developments in Malta regarding bird trapping with increasing concern. Two developments stand out.

Firstly, in November 2008 the hunters' federation (FKNK) put unrecognised rings on wild birds which their member trappers caught. Since Maltese law clearly states that only licensed ringers can carry out scientific bird ringing, EURING expected the Maltese courts to punish this illegal activity. To our amazement, the FKNK walked out of court without charge.

Secondly, it is apparent that FKNK is lobbying the authorities to start a separate ringing programme in Malta as an ill-disguised excuse to continue bird trapping. I would like to address these issues as president of EURING, which is considered to be the sole co-ordinating body for bird ringing schemes in Europe.

Founded in 1963, EURING's major achievements are co-ordinating and promoting bird ringing on a European scale, providing guidelines for bird ringing and maintaining a high quality and standard to scientific bird ringing. For that purpose, EURING devised a standard code for computerising and exchanging ring recovery data, and established a centralised EURING Data Bank to facilitate applied analyses of ringing data on a transnational scale.

The recent FKNK court case represents a particularly ridiculous development regarding bird ringing in the EU. The FKNK argued that they were just 'marking' the birds and not ringing. Under Maltese legislation both ringing and marking require a licence and permit from the authorities. Furthermore, according to the FKNK's own press release, they "marked" the birds with numbered metal rings with the letters FKNK written on them. This is clearly 'ringing', despite any other wording, and is illegal under Maltese law.

EURING finds this development unacceptable, as it could be interpreted to mean that anyone can pick up a pair of ringing pliers and any old ring and stick it on a bird, with no international co-ordination or adherence to scientific standards - both being the very essence of bird ringing. Therefore, EURING will continue to monitor developments in Malta as a priority.

Regarding the FKNK's attempts to lobby the authorities to start a second bird ringing scheme in Malta, Birdlife Malta, a member of EURING, has been operating the national ringing scheme in Malta very successfully and efficiently since 1965.

There is absolutely no operational or scientific need for a further ringing scheme, especially in a country as small as Malta. Rather, a further scheme would weaken the current high standard of bird ringing in Malta. Therefore, following the rules of EURING, we would not accept or recognise a second ringing scheme in Malta, particularly one that is apparently aimed at creating a loophole to allow finch trapping.

In addition, I would like to make it clear that bird trapping cannot in any way be comparable to bird ringing. Ringing is a scientific tool to understand population dynamics and migratory patterns among other things, trapping is the capturing of birds as a hobby.

Furthermore, scientific bird ringing is not limited to putting rings on wild birds, but includes taking a wide range of morphometric measurements, assessing the migratory health of the bird through fat and muscle scores, and can include more complex tracking work such as satellite tags. These data are shared within the EURING community and these studies are undertaken only for purposes of science and nature conservation.

Therefore EURING cannot accept any attempt to use bird ringing to continue wild bird trapping in Malta.