Malta-EU hunting agreement 'sensible'

Parliamentary Secretary George Pullicino yesterday defined the agreement on hunting between Malta and the European Union as a "sensible" one.

Mr Pullicino was speaking in parliament to answer comments made by Labour MPs Adrian Vassallo and Carmelo Abela.

Mr Pullicino said the EU was not against hunting but favoured sustainable hunting that also took tomorrow into consideration.

He insisted there was no breach of the Data Protection Act when brochures were sent to hunters. First of all the provisions of the law had not yet been brought into force and, secondly, the act laid down that data collected for a given reason should not be used for a different purpose.

Mr Pullicino pointed out that comments made by Dr Vassallo implied that as a result of the agreement with the EU certain species could be hunted but not trapped. Indeed, Mr Pullicino added, the species mentioned had been protected by Maltese law for years and, thus, could not be hunted either.

Likewise, certain methods used for hunting had also been banned by law long ago.

Mr Pullicino said the study agreed to with the EU was necessary in order to safeguard the genetic diversity of certain species.

He wondered why Dr Vassallo seemed to have been surprised that the government had managed to establish a tool of dialogue in the case of hunting and trapping.

Mr Pullicino said he was not after a witch hunt of hunters but rather he was after hunting down illegal hunting.