Organisation: BirdLife Malta http://www.birdlifemalta.org

Who are we? BirdLife Malta is a partner of BirdLife International, a conservation organisation operating in over one hundred countries and territories worldwide. Founded in January 1962 as MOS (Malta Ornithological Society), it is the oldest environmental organisation in Malta. BirdLife was instrumental in the creation of the Ghadira and Is-Simar nature reserves.

Aims of the Club: BirdLife Malta strives to conserve wild birds and their habitats. The organisation monitors activity that threatens wild birds, such as illegal hunting and trapping and urban development in conservation areas on the Maltese islands.

Of greatest concern to BirdLife is the fact that Malta still allows Turtle Dove and Quail to be hunted and trapped in spring. Spring hunting and trapping is expressly forbidden by the Birds Directive, as confirmed by a number of judgments of the European Court of Justice. Malta’s persistent infringements of the EU Birds Directive are a matter of serious concern not only because of the large amount of wild birds killed and trapped illegally each year on their migration over Malta, but also because of the large number of birds killed “legally”.

Membership: our membership is growing all the time, as both locals and overseas birders express their determination to halt the illegal spring hunting. To join go to www.birdlifemalta.org/join/generalinformation

Publications: BirdLife Malta keeps its members informed through a range of publications that cater for different age groups and interests. The publications vary according to scope, subject matter, audience and regularity. BirdLife currently issues Il-Huttafa, BirdTalk, Bird’s Eye View and Il-Merill.

Conservation: BirdLife Malta is part of an international network of fully co-ordinated ringing stations and National Ringing Schemes that have been indispensable for the efficient management of scientific bird ringing in Europe. We are the leading voice in ensuring that Malta’s hunters WILL conform with EU Directives and spring hunting will be banned in accordance with those directives. Birdlife Malta currently manages two nature reserves, Ghadira and Is-Simar, and also joint manages an afforestation project known as Foresta 2000 (located adjacent to Ghadira): the two nature reserves are both Ramsar-designated wetland areas and represent the largest free-standing sources of water in Malta.

Website: The Club has an extensive website at http://www.birdlifemalta.org with updated information, our press-releases, details of our campaigns, and how to join BirdLife Malta.

Written by Charlie Moores on behalf of:
Tolga Temuge
BirdLife Malta
tolga.temuge@birdlifemalta.org

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How serious is the situation in Malta?

The following story appeared on the Birdlife Malta website on 28th September 2007.

Raptor Camp’s ornithologists witness over 200 incidents of illegal
hunting

A report launched by BirdLife Malta today showed that local and
international birdwatchers witnessed 209 incidents of illegal hunting
and trapping during the two week long Raptor Monitoring Camp that came
to an end on Sunday, September 23 (1).

These incidents included 109 protected birds being shot at which in many
cases led to the injury or killing of these species, including 42 Honey
Buzzards (Kuccard), 15 European Bee-Eaters (Qerd in-Nahal) and 13 Marsh
Harriers (Bghadan Homor). Additionally, the birdwatchers observed a
minimum of 39 protected birds in flight with gunshot-related injuries.
These injuries involved either dangling broken legs or clearly visible
gunshot damage to the wings. The report also shows that illegal hunting
incidents were recorded in a total of 17 different locations during the
Raptor Camp. Of these, Laferla Cross registered the highest amount of
such incidents followed by Nadur Tower and Girgenti.

BirdLife also stated that since the opening of the autumn hunting season
it has received 11 injured or dead protected birds with gunshot wounds,
in addition to the 109 incidents of shooting at or killing of protected
species the teams witnessed during the raptor camp.

“This report summarizes the illegal hunting activity we witnessed during
the Raptor Camp and it will form part of the final report being drafted
which will focus on the ornithological data collected by the field teams
during the camp. BirdLife Malta will also be submitting a proposal to
Government for the improvement of law enforcement efforts with the aim
of rendering it more effective in the future,” explained Tolga Temuge,
Executive Director of BirdLife Malta.

BirdLife also commented on how illegal hunting declined as Raptor Camp
built up, possibly also due to the bird watchers acting as a deterrent
to illegal hunters who were now fully aware of their presence on the
field.

“However, we could only observe a set number of sites on a daily basis
and, therefore, our report is only limited to what we could witness and
does not represent the real scale of illegal hunting activity that
occurred during the last few weeks,” said Temuge.

The BirdLife report also shows that during the second week of Raptor
Camp the teams heard a total of 196 shots (on 74 different occasions)
after 1500hours when hunting was not allowed. “While our teams still
witnessed incidents of illegal hunting even after 1500hours, there was a
marked decrease observed by all our teams,” said Temuge. “BirdLife
believes that the new measure (2) safe-guarded many birds of prey and
other species as they entered the Maltese skies on their way from Europe
to Africa,” he said.

During the two weeks of Raptor Camp, BirdLife teams were posted around
various public sites in Malta and Gozo with the aim of observing bird
migration. The teams went out into the field for 6 hours in the
afternoon for observation purposes. When a roost of birds of prey took
place (that is, birds spending the night in Malta to rest rather than
continuing their migration), a team was sent out between 0500hours and
0800hours to monitor the departure of the roosting birds the next
morning.

A welcome surprise to BirdLife Malta was the fact that some of the
international volunteers chose to stay on beyond Raptor Camp to help the
organisation to continue to monitor the autumn migration of birds and
also to volunteer at BirdLife’s nature reserves.

“Many of the international scientists and ornithologists who
participated in this year’s camp explained how Malta would be an ideal
destination for birdwatchers if illegal killing of protected species
came to an end. It is both economic and political suicide for any
government to turn its back to this niche Malta can tap into, instead
choosing to allow uncontrolled hunting activity that occurs almost
everywhere in the Maltese countryside,” Temuge concluded.

NOTE:

1. 56 foreign ornithologists and scientists participated in this year’s
Raptor Camp. The countries represented, apart from Malta, were Finland,
Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the
United States of America.

2. The new measure laid down in L.N. 250 of 2007 bans hunting after
1500hours between September 15 and September 30.