Wednesday, 4th February, 2015
Spring Hunting Assembly: Resounding NO by speakers
KSU held a general assembly Wednesday afternoon in which a number of students expressed their sentiment about the forthocming Spring Hunting referendum. A number of people from a different number of organisations took centre stage, with all speakers arguing in favour of the “NO” vote. Insite’s Charles Mercieca reports:
Today’s KSU’s General Assembly on the Spring Hunting Referendum was fitting for two reasons: Firstly, it took place beneath some (nervous) chirping from inside the trees of the Quadrangle. And secondly, since KSU represents all University Students, having an open debate like this to influence its social policy is a worthy exercise in direct democracy. In his opening remarks, Social Policy Coordinator Andrew Muscat explained how historically KSU had been opposed to spring hunting and in favour of a referendum. Now that that referendum was happening, it is only logical to review its position once again.
After Debate Chairman Kersten Mallia laid down some ground rules, JEF member Jake Azzopardi started the discussion by emphasising that the referendum should address primarily with the issue of sustainability, and that maintaining a tradition for tradition’s sake is wrong. He pointed out that Malta is characterised by voter apathy: simply electing a politician and then taking a backseat while he votes in Parliament as he wishes, thereby giving the politician great power. This referendum on the other hand was a triumph for self-governance.
(Assembly Chairman Kersten Mallia, together with KSU Social Policy Commissioners Becky Micallef and Andrew Muscat)
Julia Farrugia, Y4TE President, pointed out that this referendum is not about stopping all hunting, the affecting of other hobbies and the trampling on rights. Rather, it just aims to protect birds on the three-week period of the year when they are most vulnerable. Citing expensive rehabilitation projects of the European Robin and Short-Ear Owl, she emphasized the immediacy of the situation and that action is to be taken now.
Lucia Farrugia, S-Cubed Social Policy Officer, explained how one bird killed in Spring is not equivalent to one bird killed in Autumn. Indeed, Mina Tolu later said that an estimated 190,000 hatchlings are being lost every spring season, a staggering number. Farrugia also brought up the issues of noise pollution impacting other animals and the decline of birds due to destruction of their natural habitat, agriculture and pesticides. She said that the central Mediterranean migration route is not well studied, so one can’t really quantify the effects.
Meanwhile, Birdlife Malta member Nicholas Galea emphasized that Malta is the only European country that allows hunting in springtime. He echoed previous calls for conservation and said that the real victims are the birds, not the hunters.
…more than half of Maltese MP’s did not reveal their position when asked, and how both the Minister for the Environment and the Shadow Minister refused to declare their stance publically
S-Cubed Vice President, Alex Hili, expressed his frustration with the contradictions of both political parties, which he said was a result of political bullying by a group of 10,000 hunters. He pointed out how more than half of Maltese MP’s did not reveal their position when asked, and how both the Minister for the Environment and the Shadow Minister refused to declare their stance publically. Mr. Hili also called for logical arguments to be brought forward, and concluded by saying: ‘If you want to debate something, debate it: but don’t bully others’.
Y4TE Activities Co-ordinator Bernice Saliba, highlighted the illogicality that is using self-satisfaction and enjoyment as an excuse to continue destroying the environment, insisting that this shouldn’t be treated as a complicated issue when it reality it isn’t.
SDM Executive Member Steve Zammit Lupi emphasized the decline of the turtle dove in Europe, and insisted that the derogation could only be applied if strict conditions were being met, which clearly is not the case. He also spoke about the importance of not speaking about two species in isolation, since everything is linked in a single ecosystem. Zammit Lupi concluded by referring to an all too familiar story: the Barn Owl and Peregrine Falcon also once flew our skies.
Brendan Zerafa presented some interesting numbers that answered the question of why the turtle dove’s conservation status is listed as being of ‘least concern’. He explained that for a species to be declared vulnerable, its population has to dip below 10,000. Furthermore, a decline is defined as a 30% decrease over a period of 10 years. He emphasized that in Northern Europe the extinction of the turtle dove was an all too real possibility, pinned by some estimates as occurring by 2021.
He also compared the effects hunters have on our politicians to the American lobbies that influence congress. Rather than succumbing to this form of democracy, Zerafa said that ‘the citizen must think for himself’, and that ‘democracy is something alive’.
He also compared the effects hunters have on our politicians to the American lobbies that influence congress. Rather than succumbing to this form of democracy, Zerafa said that ‘the citizen must think for himself’, and that ‘democracy is something alive’.
Debates as to how the population of turtle doves was measured soon followed, with Mr. Hili explaining the popular ‘mark and recapture’ method, where a sample number of birds are captured and tagged and released. After some time this is recaptured and the population is estimated.
Some people expressed scepticism to people quoting the number of gunshots or shotgun cartridges as being a suitable metric. BirdLife’s Christian Debono however explained that the shot count was just an indication which would be compared with the SMS’s received. He explained that for instance while the shot count would remain almost the same, the number of SMS’s from hunters reporting their kills would peak on the final day or two of the season, therefore something must be off. He also expressed his concern with a recent proposal by the ORNIS comittee to bestow an amnesty on birds taxidermied before 2003. He explained that only analysis in a lab could date the time of taxidermy, and so, in effect, this was a total amnesty altogether.
Another point of discussion concerned the legislation: It was made pretty clear that such an abrogative referendum removes a particular law, and in this particular situation, Spring Hunting is actually not just regulated, but allowed by a specific legislation (Subsidiary Legislations 504.94 and 504.117 for you legal folks) Practically every other hobby in Malta has no specific law allowing its practice, only laws that regulate the extent of its usage them.
A point raised by members of the audience was that if the argument deals with sustainability, why not address the depleted fish stocks as well? A member of the audience explained that the fisheries industry is much more regulated, and quotas are issued by international bodies that take ecological factors into account. Also, contrary to hunting, fish offer a large contribution to the economy as they are exported to foreign markets, a financial advantage that spring hunting (and its abolition thereof) may not have.
Noticeably absent were any arguments in favour of hunting by members, which leaves us unopinionated fellows with the only alternative of visiting Progressivi Qawra’s Facebook page and appreciating their latest photo shopped marvel.
Insite Photos courtesy of Rebecca Elizabeth Kemp.
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