At yesterday's Malta Ornis Committee meeting, the Committee voted in favour of the proposal put forward by the Federation for Hunting and Conservation - Malta (FKNK) in order to recommend to the Minister to apply derogation from the EU Directive known as the "Birds", to permit turtle dove and quail hunting this spring, on the same parameters of the 2023 spring hunting season. Basically this means quail hunting from 10 to 30 April 2024, and turtle dove hunting from 17 to 30 April 2024, both days included for both seasons. The times of hunting are from two hours before sunrise to midday of each day of the seasons and the national bag quotas also remain the same as last year’s that is, 2400 for quail and 1500 for turtle doves.
The FKNK's proposal was presented in a document that the FKNK prepared detailing the positive results obtained with regards the sustainability of turtle dove hunting, which emerged from surveys and and scientific studies that the FKNK carried out through the voluntary participation of its members in 2021, 2022 and 2023, as well as from the continuous successes that the FKNK Project "Turtle Doves Captive-breeding for Release into the Wild” is achieving.
Therefore, already now, the FKNK is encouraging its members to participate willingly in the study that the FKNK intends to organize again during this spring hunting season 2023, once the Minister enacts the recommendation of the Malta Ornis Committee. More details about the study will be given in due course.
The Meeting was suspended for next week when the members will discuss the rest of the Agenda items.