The spring hunting of Turtle Dove on Malta has no noticeable conservation impact on the species you say? across Europe this species declined with 73% between 1970 and 2010, hunting pressure during migration being cited as one of the main reasons for this decline, which makes you seem rather clueless.
Where's your references for that?
I have in front of me State of Europe's Common Birds 2008, which gives stats for Turtle Dove since the 1980s:
Western Europe = 80% decline
Central and Eastern Europe = 48% decline
Southern Europe = 2% decline.
So in the region of Malta, and the area of most intensive spring hunting (southern Europe) the decline is a negligible 2%. The region where Maltese birds migrate to also has a lower decline rate than western Europe, whose birds migrate through Gibraltar - nowhere near Malta. So that doesn't fit very well with a hunting explanation for the decline, and Maltese hunters could easily and correctly point to those stats and pose a conundrum.
All European birds do not pass through Malta, and so Malta cannot be responsible for your 73% pan-European decline. This is especially true for western European Turtle Doves, which go nowhere near Malta. So there is clearly another overriding factor driving the declines, besides Malta. So unless you can link shot birds on Malta to a declining population elsewhere in Europe (i.e it's the same birds, and it's a major reason), then there really is no link between spring hunting in Malta and population declines anywhere else in Europe. Even the general pattern doesn't fit.
A quote from the text:
As a long-distance migrant, the European
Turtle-dove faces threats on its migration routes
and wintering areas. Hunting can be seen as an
aggravating factor especially where it takes place
in spring during migration and the reproduction
period, as the species suffers from low
productivity and low adult and juvenile
survivorship (Glutz and Jensen 2007).
Attention must also be paid to possible
competition with the Eurasian Collared-dove,
Streptopelia decaocto, which is expanding in
Europe. Drought conditions and habitat
destruction in acacia scrub in the Sahel region,
where European Turtle-doves spend part of the
year, have coincided with the decline in numbers
(Jarry 1992).
The regional diff erences in the
species’ trend (see Figure 9) are probably caused
by diff erent migration routes and wintering
areas of the populations and arable land
management in diff erent parts of Europe.
