The Hunters' federation (FKNK) has welcomed a decision by the Ornis committee recommending hunting for turtle dove in the autumn.

The decision was taken despite a European Commission decision a few weeks ago to regulate autumn hunting of the vulnerable species. Birdlife had said at the time that the EU decision would require hunting for this species to be reduced by half. 

The Ornis committee recommendation to the government was taken after a vote in which there were four votes in favour and one again, by Birdlife, the FKNK said. 

"The Federation for Hunting and Conservation – Malta (FKNK) thanks Minister Clint Camilleri and the WBRU (Wild Birds Regulation Unit) for their strong stand in favour of the sustainable traditional hunting of the Turtle Dove as opposed to a total ban of turtle dove hunting in Europe as requested by the European Commission (EC)," the FKNK said.

It said that while the European Commission's ban may be implemented in some countries within the turtle dove’s Western flyway, those countries in the Central-Eastern flyway, namely Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Malta, will still hunt the turtle dove this autumn but in a more restricted manner.

"Whilst Malta’s national bag limit, notwithstanding FKNK’s reservations on the EC’s rationale, has been set at 500 birds, the EC’s further request to impose individual bag limits was also turned down by the Ornis Committee," the FKNK said.

It added that it would nevertheless "try to accommodate" another EC request – to identify numbers of juvenile and adult birds harvested.  In the coming days the FKNK will introduce a voluntary reporting system in this sense. 

The FKNK said it would also continue to work "to reinstate traditional socio-cultural" turtle dove spring hunting and trapping.  

This, it said, is a right of Maltese and Gozitan hunters and trappers as established by the Court of Justice of Europe in 2009 and by the Abrogative Direct Referendum in 2015.