Malta will likely be taken back to the European Court of Justice if it goes ahead and opens a trapping season in October, sources in Brussels told the Times of Malta.
Last week the newspaper reported how the government’s consultative Ornis Committee had recommended an autumn trapping season for two unprotected birds – the song thrush and golden plover. The decision came just one month after the Luxembourg court ruled Malta was violating EU rules by allowing the trapping of protected finches.
Malta has regularly applied for two separate derogations on trapping from the EU Birds Directive – one concerning finches and the other on song thrushes and golden plovers.
Both exceptions have long been subject to EU infringement proceedings, and while the commission took Malta to court over finch trapping, action on the other exception has been left on the back burner.
Although the ECJ declared trapping illegal last month, hunters argued a 'correct' derogation could still be applied for bird trapping to continue.
You must keep in mind this issue did not start now
Commission sources said that Brussels had flagged both derogations with infringement proceedings years ago but had decided to press ahead with court action against finch trapping as a “priority”, since it affected a protected species.
“The idea was that once this was decided, there would be a legal precedent to go after the second derogation. In fact, if the Maltese government goes ahead and opens a trapping season, court proceedings will almost certainly follow immediately after,” the sources said.
They added the two cases were based on very similar points and arguments, so they expected the court to take the same position on golden plovers and song thrushes as it had done on finches.
In fact, other sources in Brussels pointed out that the commission could even move to apply what were known as interim measures to block Malta from opening a season until court proceedings were finalised.
It seems the government is “not surprised” to hear that the commission would likely take the matter to court.
“You have to keep in mind that this issue did not start now. It has been going on for several years. We were always aware that the commission would probably try and block the derogation on golden plover and song thrush in court – this has long been on the cards,” a source close to Environment Minister José Herrera said.
The Ornis committee has recommended that the authorities amend regulations to forbid nets with holes smaller than 45mm.
Nets traditionally used to capture protected finches are normally 30mm wide – and were singled out in the ECJ ruling.
Increasing the size of the nets could be interpreted as ignoring and violating the court ruling, however the government sources said the move was “studied”.
Ornis has also recommended that the authorities only allow trappers to operate one site rather than two, as was the case in previous years. Trappers will be expected to keep any unused trapping sites covered.
Perhaps more importantly, the committee has recommended that enforcement be increased some 25 per cent.
The hunters’ federation, FKNK, has said it wanted more police oversight, adding that anyone with a general trapping licence should be allowed to trap song thrushes and golden plovers.