Birdlife partners from EU states are calling on the European Commission to “act quickly and directly” against Malta for applying a derogation to allow finch trapping.
The letter, to Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius follows the re-opening of a finch trapping season by the Maltese government “in defiance of the 2018 judgement by the European Court of Justice”, Birdlife said.
It is signed by Birdlife International CEO Patricia Zurita, Birdlife Europe senior head of policy Ariel Brunner, Birdlife Malta CEO Mark Sultana and endorsed by 24 Birdlife partners from EU states.
The derogation, they argue, sets a dangerous precedent, defies the ECJ's decision and breaches Malta's accession treaty with the EU. Signatories urged the EU Commission to intervene.
Finch trapping was deemed illegal by the ECJ in a landmark judgement in 2018 but the practice has continued, thanks to a "study" which allows trappers to catch the birds on the condition that they are later released.
Critics of the study say it is a way around the ECJ ruling.
In their letter, the Birdlife organisations said that the government’s rationale of allowing trappers to “trap without any limits” as long as they release all the birds they catch is “seriously flawed, leaves much to be desired and expects everyone to believe, including the European Commission, that all the birds trapped are being released”.
Sultana said it is also very clear that this supposedly “scientific study” is not really aimed to help the conservation of protected birds but constitutes a massive effort to try to increase the reference population to justify more finch trapping derogations in the future.
Moreover, he said, the ECJ verdict is “clear and unequivocal” that Malta has never been interested in finding any other alternative to the practice of trapping wild finches, which remain protected species at EU level.
He noted that the derogation is being applied in sync with another derogation allowing the trapping of golden plover and song thrush by the same trappers at the same sites.
“Never before has there been such a blurred line between killing of wild birds and research being tested before the European Commission,” he said.
Together with the letter, the commissioner has also been sent a dossier with “all the arguments and facts” that demonstrate abuse of the directive.
The report, which calls for the immediate suspension of the derogations, has also been sent to the EC’s directorate-general for the environment at the start of this year’s trapping season.