Illegal bird hunting in the Maltese Islands: an international perspective

Abstract

Illegal hunting is a widespread problem in the Maltese Islands. As well as having a significant impact on the islands' breeding birds, the illegal hunting of migratory birds has a wider, international dimension. To investigate the international impact of illegal hunting in Malta we considered the entire ring recovery database of the Valletta Bird Ringing Scheme, from the 1920s to the present. All records of birds that were ringed overseas and shot by hunters in Malta were analysed, comprising a total of 435 records of 84 species from 36 countries. The majority of these ring recoveries (91.7%) were from species listed as protected and non-huntable throughout the European Union, with a significant proportion listed as European Species of Conservation Concern. Birds of prey were particularly represented in the database, 78.6% of which were ringed as nestlings or juveniles, highlighting the impact of illegal hunting on this group of species in particular. Species targeted illegally by Maltese hunters originate from countries throughout Europe and Africa, particularly Finland, Sweden, Tunisia, Italy and Germany. For rare species or those with small breeding populations in affected countries, illegal hunting could therefore have a significant impact on the long-term persistence of European populations. Poaching of species such as the pallid harrier Circus macrourus and saker falcon Falco cherrug could have a global impact on their populations.

Preliminary assessment of the scope and scale of illegal killing and taking of birds in the Mediterranean

“…While some quantitative data are available for some Mediterranean countries: e.g. Raine (2007) for Malta, BirdLife Cyprus (2015a) for Cyprus, Mikuška et al (2014) for parts of Croatia, Murgui (2014) for parts of Spain, such data are lacking from others, and so the region-wide picture is still obscure.…”

The importance of spring hunting in Malta on European Turtle-Dove Streptopelia turtur and Common Quail Coturnix coturnix populations

“…This fits with previous work that emphasises the importance of hunting pressure in southern Europe for the Continent’s bird population trends (Fasolo et al 2010). Indeed, ringing recoveries indicate that turtle-doves shot in Malta in spring originate from Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland (McCulloch et al 1992, Raine 2007, Fenech 2010). The majority of quail recovered in Malta (94.4%), were ringed in Italy and there is a single recovery of a bird from Hungary (Raine 2007).…”

“…Indeed, ringing recoveries indicate that turtle-doves shot in Malta in spring originate from Italy, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Poland (McCulloch et al 1992, Raine 2007, Fenech 2010). The majority of quail recovered in Malta (94.4%), were ringed in Italy and there is a single recovery of a bird from Hungary (Raine 2007). Only 37 ringed turtle doves and 19 quails have been recovered in Malta (Raine 2007).…”

“…The majority of quail recovered in Malta (94.4%), were ringed in Italy and there is a single recovery of a bird from Hungary (Raine 2007). Only 37 ringed turtle doves and 19 quails have been recovered in Malta (Raine 2007). Ringing provides an indication of where the birds originate from but does not give a watertight set of data because ringing effort varies from country to country and certain species, such as turtle-dove and quail, do not feature prominently in the number of birds ringed in any country, particularly so for quail, as a specific effort is needed to catch them.…”

Migratory behaviour of bird species occurring in critical numbers at Besh Barmag bottleneck in Azerbaijan

“…However, owing to the specific circumstances affecting different bottlenecks, migrants are exposed to different kinds of anthropogenic threats, e.g. hunting along the Mediterranean Sea especially in Italy (Cassola 1979, Giordano 1991), on Malta (Raine 2007), in the Middle East (Porter 2005) or in Georgia (Van Maanen et al 2001), or wind farms in Gibraltar (de Lucas et al 2004) or Egypt (Hilgerloh 2009, Hilgerloh et al 2011). Up to the present, no information about migratory behaviour at Besh Barmag has been available and thus it is uncertain how far migrating birds are affected by anthropogenic threats during the passage through the Besh Barmag bottleneck.…”