Opening the spring hunting season for turtle doves is incompatible with EU directives regulating the conservation of wild birds and cannot be used to issue a derogation, BirdLife Malta have insisted in a judicial protest.

In a bid to stop the government from allowing the hunting of turtle doves during the spring, the NGO is arguing that a hunting derogation for the species cannot be issued under Directive 2009/147/EC of the European Parliament as it is incompatible with outlined objectives to conserve threatened species.

Last month, the Ornis committee voted to lift the moratorium on the hunting of turtle doves this year. The moratorium was enforced by the government in 2017 after the European Commission threatened legal action if the practice was allowed to continue. Since then, only quail has been permitted to be hunted in spring.

The committee recommended that the spring hunting season run from today until April 30 with a national bag limit of 2,400 birds.

In their protest, BirdLife argued that the directive only permits the hunting of any species of bird during spring when this results in an “acceptable disruption” while the species enjoys a “high level of population”. Granting a derogation is not an absolute right under Article 9 and such decisions should only be taken if it is “compatible with maintaining the population of the species to a satisfactory level”.

They go on to say that since 2015, the population level of the turtle dove has been worsening and is now classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. “As a consequence, spring hunting for this species cannot be considered reasonable nor compatible with the rights set out in the directive, in light of the actual science on the population of the species,” the protest says.

Since 2015, the population level of the turtle dove has been worsening and is now classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature- BirdLife

Conscious of this, several member states have adopted cautionary measures for the hunting of this species to stop even in autumn, in view of the urgent danger and state of emergency that the turtle dove finds itself in. “According to the legal parameters and practical facts, any decision taken by the government to open the spring hunting season is not based on science nor reason,” they said.

BirdLife has criticised the committee’s decision to recommend removing the moratorium, calling it the “government’s puppet”, and threatened legal action should the season go ahead as planned.

The group also said it is considering calling for another referendum seeking the abolition of spring hunting. A previous referendum about spring hunting in 2015 was won by the hunting lobby by a razor-thin margin.