The spring hunting season should be opened on April 10 and run until the end of the month, an expert committee that advises the government has recommended.
Meeting on Wednesday, the Ornis committee voted on the dates of the season for hunting quail, which will overlap with the migration of protected turtle doves over the island.
Conservationist members of the committee had proposed dates for an earlier season to avoid the migration period - but others argued against opening it while Malta is in a quasi-lockdown period, which is due to end on April 11.
The season is expected to begin at the tail-end of the soft lock down ordered by the authorities last week.
Made up of conservationists, hunters and regulators, the committee makes recommendations, which the government then decides whether to approve and implement.
No turtle dove hunting
For the past four years, hunters have only been allowed to hunt quail in spring, and that will remain this case this season.
Spring hunting is not allowed by the EU’s Birds Directive but member states can apply an exception, known as a derogation, which has to be justified with the commission afterwards.
Turtle doves are considered a “near threatened” species across the EU as population numbers have been steadily decreasing since the 1980s.
The quail hunting season was approved by four votes to one, with two abstentions. The committee chairman, FKNK representative and two government representatives backed the decision, while BirdLife Malta opposed it. Environmental regulator ERA and another government representative abstained.
Another proposal for a hunting season for turtle dove was voted down by three votes to two. BirdLife Malta and two government representatives opposed that plan, while FKNK and another government representative backed it. The Ornis chairman and ERA abstained.
Gozo Minister Clint Camilleri will now present the recommendation to cabinet, where the matter will likely be rubber-stamped and announced in the coming days.
Times of Malta reported on Monday that the decision to open a season would be taken this week. At the time sources had said the season could open earlier to avoid the migration of protected turtle doves.
Although the hunting season has not technically been approved yet, the hunting fraternity FKNK has already invited its members to apply for a special license to hunt in a season expected to be opened later this month.
Despite securing a spring hunting season for quail, hunters’ lobby FKNK was critical of the ORNIS Committee outcome.
In a statement, the lobby group said authorities were failing to provide "satisfactory solutions" to ensure hunters and trappers' traditions were safeguarded.
Law enforcement concerns
The move to open a season for quail during the pandemic may raise concerns of a lack of law enforcement.
Under the terms of a derogation (legal exemption) from EU law which Malta applies to allow a spring hunting season, the police must assign seven officers per 1,000 hunters to enforce the law.
The police’s Administrative Law Enforcement unit, which is generally responsible for policing hunting laws, has in recent months been reassigned to other duties related to the coronavirus pandemic.
When the government had opened a Spring hunting season last year, it had been labelled as the worst ever for illegal poaching of protected species.
Conservationist group Birdlife had said that the number of protected species in the 2020 season, some 50, was more than triple that recorded the previous years.
Last Wednesday Prime Minister Robert Abela announced a raft of new restrictive measures to last at least a month. The move came as the daily count of new positive COVID-19 cases reached a record high of more than 500.
All non-essential shops and services as well as schools have been ordered to close. The new measures also limit the size of groups gathering in public to four and banned all organised sports activities.
While the elderly have not been ordered to remain indoors, the authorities have urged them to exercise caution.