BirdLife Malta is claiming that the system hunters use to report their catch is not working properly, insisting that the national turtle-dove hunting bag limit has been exceeded.
On Thursday, BirdLife said it believed that the quota of 1,500 catches was exceeded a week since the opening of the spring hunting season. Reacting, the Wild Birds Regulation Unit said it was following the season and this was not the case.
Turtle doves can be hunted down by April 30 at noon.
Hunters are obliged to declare any shot turtle-doves to the WBRU. A limit of 1,500 birds is currently in place for over 8,000 licensed hunters. If the hunting bag limit is reached before April 30, the season would be declared closed.
BirdLife claims that traditionally, spring hunting derogations see limited declarations of a few hundred birds during the last few days of the season to prevent the season from closing earlier.
On Friday, BirdLife urged the WBRU to admit it was not capable of having a real picture of the number of turtle doves killed in Malta.
It added that even if WBRU had to monitor the hunting season, it could never mitigate the under-declarations made by the hunting community.
"We also challenge WBRU to honestly state that its digital game reporting system has been suffering serious problems, making hunters unable or unwilling to participate."
The eNGO claimed that over the past weeks it received information, including from "genuine hunters" that the system adopted by WBRU was not working and that when they tried to log in their catches but could not get through.
The informants substantiated their claims with screengrabs of comments within hunting lobby groups on social media.
Facebook screengrab provided by BirdLife Malta
Facebook screengrab provided by BirdLife Malta
Facebook screengrab provided by BirdLife Malta
Facebook screengrab provided by BirdLife Malta
BirdLife CEO Mark Sultana said this was "nothing but a farce".
"Had it not been the cause of the indiscriminate killing of turtle-doves, which is nearing extinction, this would be laughable. On the contrary, however, this is a serious matter and WBRU has failed in its commitment to safeguarding this derogation making it not just illegal – because it targets a bird with a vulnerable status – but also because there is no strict control.
"We have lost faith in convincing the government to do the right thing and are expecting the European Commission to challenge this breach of the EU Birds Directive with urgency.”
WBRU statement
Reacting later, the WBRU categorically denied that the spring hunting season is not properly monitored in line with the requirements of the Birds Directive.
"WBRU not only monitors the daily uptake of the national bag limits through the game reporting systems, but also has a team of compliance officers who regularly monitor the spring hunting season on the ground together with the executive police."
It said enforcement data, game reporting data and the migration study data, which monitors the daily influx of quail and turtle-dove over the Maltese islands, speak of a totally different reality than that attempted to be portrayed in public statements.
"The Wild Birds Regulation Unit works with tangible and factual data, not social media, to ascertain that Article 9 derogations are being properly implemented," it said.