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Do you agree that the provisions of the 'Framework for Allowing a Derogation Opening a Spring Hunting Season for Turtle Dove and Quail Regulations' (Subsidiary Legislation 504.94) should continue in force? | ||||||||||||||||||||||
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A referendum on spring hunting was held in Malta on 11 April 2015. [1] Voters voted narrowly in favour of retaining the spring hunt, with 50.4% voting for the existing law to remain in place. Voter turnout was 74.8%.
In August 2013 a petition to ban spring hunting was started by the Coalition for the Abolition of Spring Hunting, which consisted of BirdLife Malta, the Coalition for Animal Rights, the Democratic Alternative, Din l-Art Ħelwa, Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar, Friends of the Earth, the Gaia Foundation, Greenhouse, International Animal Rescue Malta, the Malta Organic Agriculture Movement, Moviment Graffitti, Nature Trust Malta, the Ramblers Association Malta and Youth for the Environment. [2] Around 45,000 people signed the petition, triggering a referendum. [3] [4]
Birdlife Malta said that the number of turtle doves declined by 9% between 1980 and 2015. [3] A 2007 study by the European Commission said that hunting was a low-level threat to the turtle dove (with loss of breeding habitat in the EU being described as high-level), and described spring hunting as particularly concerning. [5]
The Hunter's Federation (FKNK) and St Hubert Hunters (KSU) filed a petition at the Constitutional Court in an attempt to stop the referendum being held, saying it would violate the country's European Union treaty obligations. The FKNK said the petition had 104,293 signatures, making it the largest in Maltese history. [6] However, the court dismissed their claim on 9 January 2015, and also ordered the FKNK and KSU to pay court costs. [2] In 2009 the European Court of Justice had found that Malta was breaching its EU treaty obligations by allowing the spring hunt. However, successive governments passed legislation allowing it to continue. [3] Malta is the only country in the EU to allow spring hunting for recreational purposes. [3] Only two species, turtle doves and quails, are allowed to be shot, with quotas of 11,000 and 5,000 bird respectively. [3] This quota is set annually, based on how many birds were reported killed the previous autumn. [7] Hunters are required to report their kills to the government. According to the Maltese government, 805 turtle doves and 151 quail were reported as killed in the 2012 spring hunting season. [7]
The question voted on in the referendum was "Do you agree that the provisions of the ‘Framework for Allowing a Derogation Opening a Spring Hunting Season for Turtle Dove and Quail Regulations’ (Subsidiary Legislation 504.94) should continue in force?" [8]
| Choice | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| For | 126,434 | 50.44 | |
| Against | 124,214 | 49.56 | |
| Total | 250,648 | 100.00 | |
| Valid votes | 250,648 | 99.01 | |
| Invalid/blank votes | 2,509 | 0.99 | |
| Total votes | 253,157 | 100.00 | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 338,450 | 74.80 | |
| Source: ECM | |||
When the results of the referendum were out, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced that the spring hunting season would open on 14 April. He warned hunters to be careful, and he said they were being given a 'final chance' and no abuse will be tolerated. [9]
During the season, there were six illegalities, which is much fewer than in previous years. [10] A particular incident involved a Dutch boy being accidentally hit by pellets fired by a hunter. [11] On 27 April, a kestrel was illegally shot at, and the injured bird fell in the yard of St. Edward's College in Birgu. Muscat called this incident "inexcusable" and closed the season immediately. This decision was welcomed by the Coalition Against Spring Hunting, the Nationalist Party, the Democratic Alternative and BirdLife Malta. The pro-hunting lobby, consisting of FKNK and KSU, condemned the incident and called for those responsible to be brought to justice. [12] Birdlife Malta said that it reported 9 incidents and in addition, a total of 63 illegal bird callers were detected by CABS during this hunting season. [13]
The politics of Malta takes place within a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic republic, whereby the president of Malta is the constitutional head of state. Executive authority is vested in the president of Malta, with the general direction and control of the Government of Malta remaining with the prime minister of Malta, who is the head of government and the cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the Parliament of Malta, which consists of the president of Malta and the unicameral House of Representatives of Malta with the speaker as the presiding officer of the legislative body. Judicial power remains with the chief justice and the judiciary of Malta. Since independence, the party electoral system has been dominated by the Christian democratic Nationalist Party and the social democratic Labour Party.
The European turtle dove is a member of the bird family Columbidae, the doves and pigeons. It breeds over a wide area of the south western Palearctic including north Africa but migrates to northern sub-Saharan Africa to winter.
The American kestrel, also called the sparrow hawk, is the smallest and most common falcon in North America. It has a roughly two-to-one range in size over subspecies and sex, varying in size from about the weight of a blue jay to a mourning dove. It also ranges to South America and is a well-established species that has evolved into 17 subspecies adapted to different environments and habitats throughout the Americas. It exhibits sexual dimorphism in size and plumage, although both sexes have a rufous back with noticeable barring. Its plumage is colorful and attractive, and juveniles are similar in plumage to adults.
The Labour Party, formerly known as the Malta Labour Party, is one of the two major political parties in Malta, along with the Nationalist Party. It sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum.
Comino is a small island of the Maltese archipelago between the islands of Malta and Gozo in the Mediterranean Sea, measuring 3.5 square kilometres (1.4 sq mi) in area. Named after the cumin seed, the island has a permanent population of only two residents and is part of the municipality of Għajnsielem, in southeastern Gozo, from where one priest and one policeman commute. The island is a bird sanctuary and nature reserve.
Gun dogs or bird dogs are types of hunting dogs developed to assist hunters in finding and retrieving game. The term hunting dog is broad and includes all breeds and skills of hunting canines, but "gun dogs" refers to canines that are trained to work alongside a loud firearm while hunting or retrieving game. Gun dogs are divided into three main categories: pointers and retrievers, setters and spaniels, and water dogs.
Game or quarry is any wild animal hunted for animal products, for recreation ("sporting"), or for trophies. The species of animals hunted as game varies in different parts of the world and by different local jurisdictions, though most are terrestrial mammals and birds. Fish caught non-commercially are also referred to as game fish.
Malta elects on a national level 6 MEPs representing Malta in the European Parliament, on a district level the legislature, On a local level the Local Councils and on a community level the Administrative Committees.
Joseph Muscat is a Maltese politician who served as the 13th prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020 and leader of the Labour Party from 2008 to 2020.
Harry Milner Whittington was an American lawyer, real estate investor, and political figure. He received international media attention following an incident on February 11, 2006, when he was accidentally shot in the face, neck, and torso by then-United States vice president Dick Cheney while hunting quail with two women on a ranch in Kenedy County, Texas, near Corpus Christi. It was the first time someone had been shot by a sitting vice-president since Alexander Hamilton was shot in a duel by Aaron Burr in 1804.
On February 11, 2006, then-United States vice president Dick Cheney shot Harry Whittington, a then-78-year-old Texas attorney, with a 28-gauge Perazzi shotgun while participating in a quail hunt on a ranch in Riviera, Texas. Both Cheney and Whittington called the incident an accident.
WOLF Performance Ammunition is a trademark associated with Sporting Supplies International (SSI), a corporation in the United States. It was founded in 2005. The ammunition was primarily manufactured by the Tula Cartridge Plant in Tula, Tula District, Russia, from 2005 to 2009. Some 22-caliber rimfire ammunition is made by Eley Limited in England.
Bird trapping techniques to capture wild birds include a wide range of techniques that have their origins in the hunting of birds for food. While hunting for food does not require birds to be caught alive, some trapping techniques capture birds without harming them and are of use in ornithology research. Wild birds may also be trapped for their display in captivity in zoological gardens or for keeping as a pet. Bird trapping was formerly unregulated, but to protect bird populations most countries have specific laws and regulations.
The Thirtieth Amendment of the Constitution Bill 2011 was a proposed amendment to the Constitution of Ireland to provide for the Houses of the Oireachtas to conduct full inquiries. The bill was passed by both houses of the Oireachtas, but rejected at a referendum held on 27 October 2011.
General elections were held in Malta on Saturday, 3 June 2017 to elect all members of the House of Representatives. The elections were contested by the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the Nationalist Party, led by opposition leader Simon Busuttil, and four other parties, making it the elections with most parties participating since 1962.
Australia has a population of about 25 million, with the Commonwealth Government's 2019 survey estimating there are 640,000 recreational hunters in the country. There are around 5.8 million legally owned guns in Australia, ranging from airguns to single-shot, bolt-action, pump-action, lever-action or semi-automatic firearms.
The Chapel of St Mary is a medieval chapel located in Bir Miftuħ, limits of Gudja, Malta.
The following lists events from 2015 in Malta.
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