Traditional Maltese Socio-Cultural Passion for Spring Turtle Dove and Quail Hunting has led to BirdLife Malta Losses in Credibility, a ECJ Court Case, a Referendum & 4 Local Court Cases

On 8 March 2003, Malta held a referendum on EU membership, in which the Maltese people voted  in favour of accession. In October of that year, BirdLife Malta (BLM) held a press conference stating  that BLM would accept the spring hunting tradition with Malta a EU Member State, on the condition  that the only species targeted would be the quail and the turtle dove. BLM lost any credibility it may  have had when, no sooner had Malta officially become a member of the EU on 1 May 2004, than  BLM began lobbying the EU Commission (EC) to ban spring hunting in Malta. 

As a result, in 2006, the EC took Malta to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to stop spring hunting  (Case C-76/08). On 10 September 2009, the ECJ delivered its judgment, ruling that spring hunting could be allowed as there was no satisfactory alternative solution, as the birds were not sufficiently  available for hunting in the autumn (Article 63). The BLM's 'Stop Illegal Spring Hunting' campaign,  supported by several local 'celebrities', proved to be both useless and untrue. 

During the period 2014-2015, BLM, together with 42 other different organisations and individuals,  both local and foreign, forced the Maltese government to hold the first ever direct abrogative  referendum to eradicate spring hunting in the Maltese Islands. It is also important to note that the  referendum was not held as a stand-alone event, but in conjunction with the elections of more than  half of the local councils. On 11 April 2015, the Federation for Hunting and Conservation - Malta  (FKNK) secured a historic victory in the referendum, and in May 2015, the EU Commission withdrew  the infringement proceedings it had been pursuing against Malta since the 2009 ECJ ruling. 

On the eve of the opening of the 2022, 2023 and 2024 spring hunting seasons, and on 9 March  2025, BLM applied to the Civil Court, First Chamber, for an injunction against the Maltese  Government not to open the 2022, 2023 and 2024 spring hunting seasons for turtle doves and  quails, and the 2025 spring hunting season for turtle doves. This year, BLM even dared to ask the  Court to prevent the legally constituted body, the Malta Ornis Committee, from even discussing the  FKNK's proposals, which asked the Committee to recommend to the Minister, or otherwise, a period  of 14 half days this spring during which hunting and research on turtle doves would be permitted,  with a total national bag limit of 1500 birds. All four injunction warrants were rejected and BLM was  subsequently censured by the four different judges who presided over the four cases. In last year's  ruling, the Honourable Presiding Judge also concluded, "- this cannot but be seen as a clear and  glaring case of 'forum shopping' where the applicant Association tries its luck with a claim identical  to that of previous years, hoping that someone different will accept it.". During this year's hearing,  the only completely invalid argument BLM's lawyer could come up with was that spring hunting is  illegal, he must have used this term well over 100 times. BLM should have told their lawyer that the  phrase "illegal spring hunting" had already been proven to be fictitious when they used it pointlessly  during their campaign for the ECJ case. In fact, Maltese hunters and trappers NEVER hunted in the  spring unless legally permitted to do so. Maltese hunters and trappers did not hunt in the spring of  2008, 2009 and 2010, and did not hunt turtle doves in the spring of 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and  2021 because it was illegal under local legislation. Furthermore, FKNK believes that this year's  warrant is yet another manifestation of BLM's lack of respect for the Maltese government and, above  all, another arrogant and desperate move by BLM, which believes it has the right to block the  process if it does not get its way. In other words, this is exactly what the Honourable Judge said in  his final ruling this year and subsequently described BLM's warrant request as undemocratic.

At the Malta Ornis Committee meeting on 2nd April 2025, the FKNK's proposals for this year's Spring  Turtle Dove Hunting & Research Project to be conducted by traditional trapping method from 21st  April to 4th May 2025, both days inclusive, with a total national bag limit of 1500 birds, received a  majority "yes" vote in both cases. Recommendations have now been made to the Honourable  Minister Clint Camilleri. During this vote the BLM representatives did a 'parliamentary' stunt that  has been seen recently and walked out of the meeting.  

These seven FKNK victories over BLM would not have been possible without the unrelenting determination of the FKNK Council, its thousands of loyal hunter and trapper members, and the  publication of the many related science based works, surveys, studies, papers, reports, exercises  and other documentation. The FKNK also has to thank the Maltese Government and the responsible  Minister for their strong political will to support these traditional socio-cultural passions, the wisdom  of both the ECJ and the local court, and the relatively solid defence teams, both appointed by the  Government and by the FKNK. 

Finally, in FKNK's humble opinion, consideration should be given to imposing appropriate sanctions  on BLM to prevent their future similar offensive behaviour towards the Court, the Government and  the Maltese public in general, including in particular the thousands of Maltese and Gozitan hunters,  trappers and families whose legitimate socio-cultural traditional passions constitute an essential and  significant part of their way of life, the abolition or even temporary suspension of which has and  could continue to cause serious, even fatal, mental health suffering.

Lino C. Farrugia

MALTESE VERSION

This is a summary of a chronological detailed paper that the FKNK publish soon