Malta and hunting policy (2 Viewers)

[Andy Lakin]

Farnborough John Cheers. I thought I had edited the post after accidentally posting it ta, Meant to ask if they have any idea how many birds are actually getting shot. Obviously you can't begin to work on the quota without all the details, as in other countries the people setting the figures are absolutely clueless. What can the Maltese hunters shoot legally, they can't just be going out shooting Turtle Doves?

 

[Gladiator96]

Farnborough John Cheers. I thought I had edited the post after accidentally posting it ta, Meant to ask if they have any idea how many birds are actually getting shot. Obviously you can't begin to work on the quota without all the details, as in other countries the people setting the figures are absolutely clueless. What can the Maltese hunters shoot legally, they can't just be going out shooting Turtle Doves?

Andy, hunters report their catches through an SMS reporting system. This obviously doesn't work since very few hunters report their catches and therefore noone really has really any idea how many birds are killed. In the 2020/21 hunting season only 2.7% of 10,675 hunters reported any catches...which is obviously complete horsesh*t especially considering that the huntable species include common species which all hunters are guaranteed to catch plenty of such as song thrush, starling and skylarks. As with an EU country there are plenty of huntable species in Malta as per the Birds Directive.

 

[Hethersett birder]

It's worth noting that here in the United States hunters provide a large amount of the conservation. The DNR (Department of Natural Resources, which basically regulates hunting, fishing, and all things outdoors related) buys land and returns it to its natural state. This is done using the money obtained from hunters buying hunting licenses. The flip side is that hunters are allowed to hunt on the land in the fall. Many hunting organizations (such as Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever, etc.) raise money from hunters in order to buy land that has been altered from its natural state and then donate the land to the DNR or the state who then manage it in order to return it to its natural state. Again, this land is also used for hunting. Because an environment that is conserved in its natural state is ideal for hunting, hunters have a lot of incentive to conserve the environment. So, here in the United States, hunters actually do a lot to preserve and conserve nature and the environment. Now, there are certainly hunters who are careless and do harm the environment but I (and I think most other hunters here in the U.S.) are careful for the above mentioned reasons and I would turn in any hunters who are harming the environment (for which they would be fined, lose their hunting privileges, and possibly even face time in prison). Indeed, there are special hotlines for the purpose of turning in hunters who are behaving inappropriately towards the environment.

Now being from the U.S. and not from Malta I don't know anything about the Federation for Hunting and Conservation (or even how hunting is done in Europe) so I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anything regarding that aspect of this thread. I also don't want it to appear that I am trying to compare Europe and the U.S. or say that one is better than the other. I just saw the quote above and wanted to make an observation based on my experience that here in the U.S. hunting and conservation are intricately related.

I guess my bottom line is that I don't know if that is a contradiction in Malta, but here in the United States it would not be.

Anyways, that took about twice as long to say as I had intended so I hope I didn't bore too many of you to death with my lengthy (and hopefully literate ) explanation!

With all due respect this is an entirely different scenario. The primary issue with Malta is that it is a small Mediterranean island which is located on a major migratory route and concentrates often tired migrants which seek to rest/ roost in the small areas of suitable habitat available on a densely populated land area. The hunters historically indiscriminately shoot/ trap virtually any species they encounter many of which are largely fully protected and at risk species in their breeding areas on mainland Europe, sometimes because they target/ rare or colourful species for taxonomy but often just shooting them for the sake of it and leaving them uncollected. They have zero interest in any form of responsible hunting controls or the conservation of the species involved and ignore any form of regulation if they feel they can get away with it.