Hunters on Saturday insisted that public access to Miżieb and Aħrax would remain free throughout the year and insisted a management deal they had quietly signed with the government changed nothing “substantial”.
In a statement, the hunters’ federation FKNK said that public access to the Mellieħa woodland areas would not be affected by the deal.
“The general public, families and others will continue to have free access to the reserves throughout the whole year, as they always did,” the FKNK said.
Access included permission to walk, cycle, have picnics, film and camp in certain areas, among other things, it said, with access “only restricted in certain areas during hunting hours”.
The government on Friday announced it had signed management agreements with the FKNK to grant the federation a three-year deal to manage the two Mellieħa woodland areas, which together are five times larger than the Buskett woodland.
Other, smaller hunting groups, such as St Hubert's Hunters and Moviment Kaċċaturi Nassaba Ambjentalisti, have distanced themselves from the deal, saying that while they agree with it in principle, they were not consulted about it.
Nebulous conditions
According to the terms of the deal, public access to the sites is allowed “except for during specific times of day during the hunting season/s”.
The agreement does not specify what those “specific times of day” are and documents published by the government exclude project plans drafted by FKNK for the sites.
A Memorandum of Understanding concerning the two sites makes even less specific commitments and only states that FKNK must ensure public access to "all public passageways and thoroughfares".
Autumn hunting season, which runs from the beginning of September to the end of January, allows hunting from two hours before sunrise to two hours after sunset, as well as until 1pm on Sundays and public holidays.
Other hunting seasons, such as spring hunting season for quail or summer season for wild rabbits, extend hunting hours even further.
The deal has been slammed by a coalition of more than 60 NGOs, with a protest planned for Sunday afternoon in Miżieb. A signing ceremony, originally scheduled for that day, was secretly moved forward to Friday after news of the wrapped-up deal broke on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the coalition, Spażji Miftuħa [open spaces] said it was "overwhelmed" by the public's response to its opposition to the deal.
In its statement, the FKNK claimed the deals changed nothing “substantial” from an agreement it had signed in 1986 and instead updated that agreement to modern-day times, bringing it in line with biodiversity and natural habitat rules imposed by the Lands Authority and environmental regulator ERA.
The FKNK argued that its management agreement was far less generous than that secured by bird conservationist NGO BirdLife for the Salini nature reserve.
“BirdLife Malta receives €150,000 a year thanks to that deal, while the FKNK will not be receiving any remuneration and will instead be paying a fee,” it said.
Maintenance work at the Miżieb and Aħrax sites would be undertaken by FKNK volunteers, it said.
It also attacked PN environment spokesman David Thake, who asked parliamentary questions about the FKNK deal and has said he is opposed to it.
Thake, the FKNK said, should now demand the publication of management agreements which other NGOs have with the government.
Thake’s attitude does not bode well for relations between the PN’s new leadership and the FKNK, the hunters’ federation said.