Birdlife Malta wants a freeze on the hunting of turtle dove in spring reinstated, after EU data showed a dramatic decline in the bird’s population.
Researchers tracked the birds for a five-year period across 15 countries along their central-eastern migratory route. They found that bird populations had declined in 13 out of the 15 countries, including Malta, with an overall reduction of more than 23 per cent.
Their work forms part of what the European Union terms its Article 12 reporting data. Under the EU’s Birds Directive, member states must submit data every six years on the status and trends of wild bird populations.
The newly released report analyses data for the period 2019 to 2024.
Malta had introduced a moratorium on the spring hunting of turtle dove in 2017. It was kept in place until spring 2021 before being lifted in 2022 to reallow hunting under derogation. The European Commission has an ongoing infringement procedure against Malta based on that derogation, which it claims breaches EU law.
The government’s Wild Birds Regulation Unit (WBRU) has previously told the consultative Ornis Committee that turtle dove populations migrating over Malta were stable or decreasing.
EU-wide hunting federation FACE had also told the European Commission last year that the turtledove population in the flyway increased in Spring 2024.
BirdLife Malta’s Head of Conservation Nicholas Barbara (left) and CEO Mark Sultana (right). Photo: Matthew MirabelliBirdlife Malta says those claims were based on outdated data and flawed methodologies that have now been definitively dismissed by the Article 12 reporting data.
Birdlife says it is vindicated
“The latest Article 12 data leaves no room for doubt. The turtle dove continues to decline across the flyway, and this is the most up-to-date and robust scientific data available,” Birdlife Malta CEO Mark Sultana said on Wednesday.
Sultana said the report vindicated what BirdLife Malta had long been stating at the Ornis Committee, in the law courts and in its communication with the government.
The organisation called for an immediate halt to spring hunting of turtledove, the reinstatement of a moratorium for at least six years, and full alignment with EU conservation measures and recommendations to avoid aggravating ongoing infringment proceedings.
“We urge the Maltese authorities to take urgent action to protect this species and support its recovering, in line with both scientific evidence and EU legal obligations,” Sultana said.