STATEMENT BY THE MINISTRY FOR THE ENVIRONMENT IN REPLY TO THE PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE FEDERATION OF HUNTERS, TRAPPERS AND CONSERVATIONISTS

The Ministry for the Environment refers to the press statement issued by the Federation of Hunters, Trappers and Conservationists and would like to clarify the following:

Contrary to what was alleged by the Federation, the meeting to be held with Birdlife Malta with the Minister for the Environment does not interfere with the functions of the Environment Monitoring Board.   It is normal practice that meetings are held with individual organisations as has been the case with the very Federation of Hunters, Trappers and Conservationists.

The Minister for the Environment cannot agree with the Federation's objections to a planned meeting with Birdlife Malta.  Agreeing with the Federation on this issue would be tantamount to undemocratic and uncivil behaviour whereby any organisation in our country assumes that it has any right to dictate which meetings are or are not held!

The Ministry for the Environment refers also to the allegation that the Administrative Law Enforcement unit within the Police Force is enforcing trivial or outdated regulations. Facts prove otherwise since various hunters apprehended during the last eight weeks include persons without a licence, or involving the shooting of protected birds and the use of illegal hunting methods.

It is worth recalling that for the last three years, the Ministry for the Environment has taken measures to amend regulations in consultation with the Federation of Hunters, Trappers and Conservationists, not least to establish a just set of regulations that are accepted by one and all and which while safeguarding the tradition of hunting on the one hand, seek to curb abuse and illegal practices on the other.  It is grossly unfair on the Ministry that the Federation is now trying to give impressions to the contrary.

The setting of the Environment Monitoring Board was aimed at setting up a work plan to combat illegal activities, and the participation by the Federation on this Board has been a positive step that should be maintained. The Ministry of the Environment notes with satisfaction the condemnation of  the killing of mute swans by different hunting organisations, but it has to be said that the number of individuals who infringe bird hunting and trapping regulations is still far too high.  It is also abundantly obvious that sea shooting is far too indiscriminate and very difficult to control and monitor.

The Ministry for the Environment calls upon the Federation, in the interests of its own credibility, to put more pressure on their members to respect the law. The Federation could also help by passing on any relevant information related to illegal activities to the ALE or the Environment Monitoring Board.

On such a basis, the Ministry for the Environment is convinced that irrespective of meetings with individual organisations as may be held from time to time, the Environment Monitoring Board remains an important and effective forum where all parties should get together to provide effective remedies against any illegal practices that are condemned by one and all. With this aim in view, the Minister for the Environment will be convening himself a meeting of this Board and seeking to have the highest possible representatives of the different entities involved present for this meeting, in order that we may be able to build further on the positive methods of co-operation that have already been established. The Ministry is confident that the Federation of Hunters, Trappers and Conservationists as well as Birdlife together with the highest officials from the Environment Protection Department, the Police and the Armed Forces, will be able to lay out an effective strategy that guarantees maximum enforcement of hunting regulations. Equally the Ministry is not willing to renounce to its own duties in this regard.