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by Lars Lindell and Anders Wirdheim
[Var Vagelwaerld 5/2001]
Applications for membership from several countries are on the table in the European Union. Among these are
both Cyprus and Malta, two island countries in the Mediterranean, which in Sweden are perhaps better known as tourist resorts.
To international bird protectionists the two countries also have another reputation. They are virtual death traps to millions
of migrating birds every year - and the hunting that takes place is to a great extent illegal.
Cyprus and Malta are
however far from the only countries in the Mediterranean area with an extensive, and remarkably regular practice of illegal
hunting of migrating birds. On the contrary, migrating birds are on principle hunted all the way from Portugal in the west
to Lebanon and Syria in the east. Of about 5 billion migrating birds passing through the Mediterranean area each year, 500
million are shot or trapped. In other words: one migrating bird in ten is killed by hunters in the Mediterranean!
Seen
in the perspective of how extensive landscape changes, in particular intensive farming and forestry, has affected the birds
of Europe, hunting has long been treated as a minor problem. Nevertheless it has most likely had a significant importance
both locally and, for some vulnerable species, over a far wider area. A good example of this is the Honey Buzzard (Pernis
apivorus), which has declined markedly in Scandinavia and which is shot in large numbers every year in the Mediterranean area.
Another example is the Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana). This species is also declining in Scandinavia, and we can only
speculate what effect hunting in France has had for some 50,000 birds annually.
Other birds with declining numbers
in northern and central Europe, and which are exposed to hunting in the Mediterranean area, are Lapwing (Vanellus vanellus),
Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur), Wryneck (Jynx torquilla), Sky Lark (Alauda arvensis) and Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio).
These species have one thing in common: their decline is greater than can be attributed to landscape changes alone.
Many
of the Mediterranean countries are long-term EU members. As such they have obligations to abide by the EU Bird Directive,
which states that hunting during spring migration is prohibited, as is the use of lime sticks, traps or nets. There is clearly
however a difference between what politicians in Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, Rome and Athens sign their names to; and what actually
happens in the countryside in their respective countries.
The hunting of migrating birds has very old roots in the
Mediterranean area. It has also had significant importance for life in the countryside. As early as in the Bible, hunting
for Quails (Coturnix coturnix) is mentioned. "Now, a wind swept out from the Lord and carried Quails from the sea. They
flew a metre above the ground, around the camp, up to a day's march from there. The people started to catch the Quails and
kept doing so for all of the day and all of the night and all of the following day, and no one got less than ten homer*. The
Quails were spread out all around the camp."
(The Book of Numbers 11:31-32).
Even today, a great number
of the migrating birds killed are consumed; but this has no longer any vital, if any importance at all, for the national economy.
Instead it has become a luxury consumption, when not regarded as preservation of tradition - or merely a leisure activity
where the prey is simply thrown away or (as in Malta) given to a taxidermist for stuffing so that they can subsequently end
up on a hunter's bookshelf.
Far worse is that the hunting methods have changed over the last decades. What was formerly
a local and small scale activity is now often carried out on a large scale with modern techniques. An example of this is the
trapping of small birds in Cyprus.
In Cyprus farmers have, from time immemorial, caught birds with lime sticks to
supplement their scanty provisions. Lime sticks are small twigs [but sometimes up to a metre long - Ed.] that are smeared
with extremely sticky lime made from boiling up the fruit of the Syrian plum tree. The sticks are placed among the branches
of bushes and solitary trees. Birds that alight on the sticks are held fast by the sticky lime.
Nowadays hunting
is a large scale activity. Lime as well as mist nets are used, and as if this isn't enough, tape-recorders with endless tapes
of bird song are used. Sometimes whole plantations of shrubs are covered with up to nine meter high mist nets or are prepared
with lime sticks in the early evening. During the night the tape-recorder plays the song of, for instance, the Blackcap (Sylvia
atricapilla) and so attracts migrating birds. In the morning the nets and sticks are emptied, and the catch often consists
of hundreds or thousands of birds.
Also, when it comes to hunting with fire-arms, there has been a considerable change
for the worse for the birds during the past few decades. While the hunters formerly used double-barrelled shot-guns that needed
reloading after two shots, most of the hunters today have semi-automatic shot-guns with several cartridges in the magazine.
A passing bird has little chance of getting away, especially when lines of hunters are posted along flight routes which the
birds are obliged to use.
A Marsh Harrier (Circus aeruginosus), that came flying through a valley in Malta, got hit
by six rapid shots from the first hunter in the valley. The bird shivered, marking hits by most of the shots. But it wasn't
until the fourteenth shot, fired by the third hunter, that the Harrier fell dead to the ground.
The full extent of
hunting in the Mediterranean area is little known. The oft quoted numbers of 500 millions of birds killed every year are,
among other sources, based on the sale of shot-gun cartridges in the countries involved. It is clear that the figures are
imprecise; but the figures of hundreds of millions of birds every year are clearly exaggerated.
Since most hunting
is illegal, there are no reliable statistical data on the real extent of the killing. It is not possible to calculate the
numbers killed by hunters from recoveries of ringed birds alone. In Cyprus and Malta for instance, the hunters are urged by
their organisations not to report ringed birds, in order to prevent public control of the extent of the hunting.
Cyprus
Every year, roughly 20 million migrating birds are killed in Cyprus. The majority of these birds are caught in mist nets,
traps or with lime sticks. Mainly warblers (primarily Blackcaps (Sylvia atricapilla)), Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster), Turtle
Doves (Streptopelia turtur), Robins (Erithacus rubecula), Nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos), Song Thrushes (Turdus philomelos)
and sparrows (Passer ssp.) are caught. The methods are not selective. The nets and the lime sticks capture everything and
the trapper, as a rule, kills all birds when emptying his traps. Thereafter the species not considered eatable are discarded.
The remainder are sold as delicacies, and are said to bring up to 15 SEK (approx. 1 GBP) apiece. In shops and restaurants
they are sold for more then 20 SEK (approx. 1.50 GBP or $ 2,25). A complete dinner of small birds often consists of more than
a dozen birds.
ICBP, the predecessor of BirdLife International, estimated in 1986 that 2.2 million birds were killed
with nets/lime sticks every year in Cyprus. In the year 2000 the corresponding numbers were at least 15 million birds. To
this must be added the considerable amount of birds being shot or caught in traps.
Since a hunter can catch up to
800 birds per day, it is obvious that large amounts of money are at stake. The hunters shows no mercy if their business is
threatened. Many European birders has been exposed to threats and even been assaulted when they have questioned the activities.
In some cases, reporting the matter to the police has produced unexpected and aggravating results: Instead of investigating
the suspected crime, the police have accused the reporting persons of espionage.
A law dating from 1974 forbids the
catching, killing and trading of migrant birds in Cyprus. Also the use of lime sticks, nets and tape recorders are forbidden
by this law. The same rules are also imposed by the Bern convention, to which Cyprus is a signatory. In spite of this few
members of the Cypriot authorities are prepared to take any action against illegal bird hunting. Indeed it is so widespread
that members of parliament, local mayors and others, do not dare to take measures due to the risk of losing votes. It has
also be known for law enforcers to be threatened and harassed by poachers.
Among the birds caught in great numbers
in Cyprus, are the endemic species Cyprus Pied Wheatear (Oenanthe cypriaca) and Cyprus Warbler (Sylvia melanothorax) and the
endemic, non migrant sub-species of European Scops Owl (Otus scops cypriotes). Of the other species in need of protection,
in a European perspective, considerable numbers of European Roller (Coracias garrulus), European Bee-eater (Merops apiaster),
Wood Lark (Lullula arborea), Redstart (Phoenicurus phoenicurus), Black-eared Wheatear (Oenanthe hispanica), Semi-collared
Flycatcher (Ficedula semitorquata), Red-backed Shrike (Lanius collurio), Woodchat Shrike (Lanius senator), Masked Shrike (Lanius
nubicus), Black-headed Bunting (Emberiza melanocephala), Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana), and Cretzschmar's Bunting (Emberiza
caesia) are trapped.
The hunting of Bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) deserves special mention. Some hunters have specialised
in trapping Bee-eaters and set themselves up with beehives and colonies of bees. These are placed in open land where Bee-eaters
usually occur. On the hives and in their surroundings lime sticks are placed. When the Bee-eater, after a successful sortie
after a bee, lands on a post to eat its prey, it gets stuck in the lime.
Hunting with nets and lime sticks takes
place mainly in the autumn. The national ornithological society, COS, has estimated that the autumn hunt accounts for at least
9.1 million, the winter hunt for 2.0 million and the spring hunt 1.5 million birds. There is a national hunting season in
spring from April to May, officially for the control of Crows (Corvus ssp.), Magpies (Pica pica) and others, but many other
species are hunted as well, specially the Turtle Dove (Streptopelia turtur).
Now, with Cyprus knocking on the gates
of the European Union, Birdlife International has demanded that the EU ensures that the country effectively implement its
own national hunting laws before being admitted into the Union.
Malta
Malta is the land that in the Swedish debate has come to symbolise bird hunting in southern Europe today. Situated between
Italy and Tunisia, it is almost exactly in the middle of the central flyway from Europe to Africa. The other (most important)
flyways are in the west (via Spain - Morocco) and in the east (via Turkey - The Middle East).
Malta is densely populated
and a considerable part of the male population are hunters. In a population of 350 000 people, there are at least 20 000 hunters.
Traditionally, as in the rest of the Mediterranean area, there has been hunting to supplement an otherwise meagre diet. Today,
this has no practical significance. Instead the hunt is principally for trophies - every hunter has his own collection of
stuffed birds - or merely for the pleasure of shooting and to show off skills. Among older Maltese men, it is also common
to have large collections of living birds, mainly finches, that are caught using large nets and decoys.
In densely
populated Malta there are no mammals to hunt. The breeding bird fauna has, after years of hard pressure from hunting, been
reduced to only 13-14 species, mainly passerines and seabirds. As a result of this, the pressure on the migrating birds passing
the group of island is enormous. Malta's last pair of breeding Jackdaws (Corvus monedula) was shot in 1956, the last pair
of Peregrine Falcons (Falco peregrinus) (breeding in a inaccessible precipice) in 1983 and the last pair of Barn Owls (Tyto
alba) in 1988. The five chicks of the latter died from starvation.
Even if Maltese law permits hunting for more species
and for longer periods than any other European country, the most sought after quarry (e.g. birds of prey) are nevertheless
protected. In spite of this, there is an intensive and blatant hunt for raptors, even inside nature reserves! Much hunting
is done from boats. The hunters wait in their boats for the exhausted birds to seek rest on the islands. When the birds get
close, they are caught up by the fast boats and shot down. This form of hunting is also illegal.
The total extent
of hunting on Malta is not known. Estimates based on the numbers of birds stuffed by taxidermists each year point to a total
of more than 30,000 raptors annually! Of these, about 3,500 are estimated to be Honey Buzzards (Pernis apivorus). From the
days when Maltese hunters reported ringed birds, we know that a very large percentage of the Honey Buzzards shot in Malta
are breeders from northern Europe (mainly from Sweden and Finland).
Maltese hunters are such an influential group
that politicians and officials don't dare offend them. Many local policemen are hunters themselves. Those who openly take
action against hunting and for a better observance of the hunting laws are persecuted and harassed. Some cases have gone so
far that police protection has been necessary.
With Malta's application for membership in the EU, the Maltese hunters
seek support from other European hunting organisations to get exemptions from full implementation of the Bird Directive. Among
others, the Swedish Hunters Society has given some support. In a big debate on 'Hunting And The EU' in the Forest and Agricultural
Academies last winter, the chairman of the Swedish Hunters Society, Bo Toresson, made an ironic comment on the fact that EU,
as well as nature conservationists all over Europe, wants to remove the ancient right of the Maltese to hunt Chaffinches (Fringilla
coelebs).
The aim of this Chaffinch hunt is almost exclusively to catch birds and to keep them alive in cages. To
do this they first catch a decoy. This bird gets a ring (usually a common key-ring) stuck through its breast and its eyes
are punctured. The ring is then attached to a long line and the bird is placed on a prepared trapping site with a clap-net.
Since the bird is blind, it calls frequently and every time the hunter pulls the string the decoy flaps its wings. Passing
flocks are attracted and captured. It's strange that such a form of hunting is supported by the Swedish Hunters Society!
As with Cyprus, BirdLife International has demanded that EU ensures that Malta implements its own national hunting laws
before gaining admission to the union. BirdLife International has also rejected the demands for exceptions from the Bird Directive
for which Malta has applied. Initially BirdLife Malta backed up a few of these demands for exceptions, which might seem extraordinary.
But this tell us a lot about the extent of the bird hunt and the role it plays in the whole Maltese society. After massive
criticism from BirdLife in the rest of Europe, BirdLife Malta now has joined the common European standpoint.
The EU countries around the Mediterranean
Cyprus and Malta are at the centre of attention today as far as bird hunting is concerned as it is an obstacle to their desire
to become full members the EU. But also in the countries which been members for some time large scale illegal hunting of migrating
birds takes place. Legalised hunting is also very extensive, especially in France and Greece.
An example of an illegal
and devastatingly efficient form of hunting is the so called baracca-hunt which is primarily practised in Catalonia and Valencia
in Spain. Artificial shrubberies, often rectangular in shape, are created with evergreen trees. In these baraccas lime sticks
are set out with a tape-recorder playing an endless tape of most usually Song Thrush (Turdus philomelos) song in the centre.
During the night the song is heard and passing migrants are attracted. One single baracca is said to trap up to 1,000 birds
a night. Among the Song Thrushes other species such as Scops Owls (Otus scops) and Little Owls (Athene noctua) also fall victim
to the traps. Hardly any hunter bothers to take the time to clear these collateral catches from the sticky lime; the uneatable
species are killed and discarded. This hunting method is forbidden but nevertheless widely practised. A complicating fact
is that it has an unofficial support among some politicians as it is regarded as a regional Catalonian or Valencian tradition,
with which the central government in Madrid (and even less the EU) have no business to interfere.
A form of hunting
intensively debated, and which also has led to confrontations between hunters and nature conservationists, is the spring hunting
of Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur )in France. This is mainly carried out in April along the Mediterranean, and also along
the Biscay coast, but is illegal. It contravenes against French hunting laws and the EU Bird Directive. In spite of this it
persists, even though it has probably decreased in the last few years. Whether this is due to better observance of the law,
or because of a marked decrease in Turtle Doves, is hard to say.
The hunting of Honey Buzzards (Pernis apivorus)
and other raptors in southern Italy is also a controversial question. During the latest ten years, Italian bird protection
organisations have organised special camps for mapping and counteracting the hunting. The actions have been successful even
though many raptors still are shot in Sicily and in Calabria (southernmost mainland). A volunteer at an anti-poaching camp
wrote:
"Four of us were standing, watching the sunset over Sicily, when 22 Honey Buzzards came flying slowly
and low towards us. I had received my instructions: <There will be shooting, count the birds and keep watching them, and
count the shots.> I followed a bird in my binoculars until the shooting suddenly started. Ten, twenty, a hundred shots
cut through the air around us. 'My' bird continued flying until it was hit and fell like a rock. Others fell next to it. I
felt despair and unspoken anger in the middle of this merciless nightmare. After seven minutes we counted only five surviving
birds rising towards the mountain ridge behind Catona."
It is possible that the hunting of raptors in southern
Italy was once of national economic importance. Nowadays it is a tradition with a rather weak justification: In Calabria it
is said that if a man fails to shoot a Honey Buzzard in the spring, he won't have any success with the opposite sex during
the rest of the year.
Apart from the hunting of raptors in southern Italy, illegal hunting with traps and other forms
of poaching tales place in many parts of the country. In, Brescia in northern Italy for instance, there are between 3,000
and 4,000 poachers using more than one million traps. These are mainly older hunters however and the general impression is
that things are getting slowly but steadily better. Some of the poaching simply dies out together with its old practitioners.
Effects on Swedish species
As mentioned earlier, the extensive hunting of migrating birds in the Mediterranean area can have crucial negative effects
on many species. A good example of this is the Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana). It was severely effected in major parts
of Europe, not at least in Sweden, by the 'pesticide disaster' in the 1950s and 1960s. The use of long-lasting poisons in
agriculture, mainly hydrocarbons such as DDT and various mercury compounds, badly affected seed-eaters and raptors.
Whilst its relative the Yellowhammer (Emberiza citrinella) has recovered considerably in numbers, the decline of of the
Ortolan Bunting has continued. Today it has disappeared from a major part of its Nordic breeding range; and in other areas
it has declined markedly. The reasons for the difference between the two species are not yet fully known. But the Yellowhammer
is non-migratory or is a short-range migrant, while the Ortolan Bunting migrates to tropical Africa.
On their route
to tropical Africa, significant numbers of the Nordic Ortolan Buntings migrate via south-western France. This is shown by
both Swedish and Finnish recoveries of ringed birds. Precisely here, mainly in the region of Les Landes, hunting for Ortolan
Bunting has been very extensive. According the French hunters, 50,000 Ortolan Bunting are shot or caught each year in the
whole of France, mainly in the southwest. Compare this with the total Swedish population of 7,000 pairs!
For a few
years now the Ortolan Bunting has been protected in France. The French hunters desisted only on condition that the hunting
of Skylarks (Alauda arvensis), of which 600,000 are shot each year, would continue to be permitted. Considering how extensive
poaching is in other areas, there are reasons to believe that the hunting of Ortolan Bunting will still take place to some
extent.
What the Chaffinch is to Malta - is the Woodcock to Sweden
The bird directive of the EU is both a strong and a far-sighted tool with regard to the protection of the migrating, and thus
commonly shared, bird species. It was adopted in 1979 because of numerous reports showing a too extensive hunting in various
parts of the union.
In very simple terms it can be said that the kernel of the directive accepts human intervention
(eg. hunting) if the species retains good survival chances. Additionally the directive restricts hunting to the autumn migration
period or in winter. Hunting in the breeding season, or when the birds return to their breeding grounds (spring migration),
is not permitted.
The European hunters' organisation FACE, and its national member organisations, have worked long
and hard to water down the directive. A few years ago they collected 2 million names to support demands for a change of the
bird directive (but later birds conservationists gathered even more names in support of a unchanged directive) and every now
and again questions are asked in various organs of the EU with the same aim - to weaken the directive and give national organs
greater powers.
With new applicants for EU membership, FACE recognises an opportunity to diminish the power of the
directive. If exceptions were made for, let's say, Chaffinch (Fringilla coelebs) hunting in Malta, this could open the way
to similar exceptions in other countries. As mentioned above, Swedish hunters havent been slow to jump on the bandwagon. They
crave for reinstation of summer hunting of Woodcock (Scolopax rusticola) and spring hunting of Eider (Somateria mollissima).
There are few other sectors where international agreements are so motivated as with the case of bird migration. Migrating
birds ignore national borders. They move freely over Europe and are therefore, more than any other part of nature, a communal
resource. Many of the migrating birds that are shot in the Mediterranean area spend the winter in Africa; and breed in northern
Europe. They traverse the Mediterranean quickly unless they are unlucky enough to be shot down.
In other words, there
are very good grounds for stating that, for instance, hunting in France in February has an effect on Swedish bird populations.
The returning birds have survived the natural bottle-neck of the winter, pair up in late winter and reload their batteries
to return to the far north for the new breeding season. It is clear that the survival of these birds is not a French matter
alone; but effects all other countries within the sphere of the birds' movements.
Translated by Lars G R Nilsson
Edited by David J A Conlin
Copyright Lars Lindell and Anders Wirdheim
and 'Var Vagelwaerld'
(the Swedish ornithological magazine) where the article was originally published in May 2001.
[*Editors note: Given in other texts as cores, heaps or bushels. The following verses, 33 and 34, of the Book of Numbers go
on:
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against
the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague."
34 The place was named Kivrot Hattaava
(the graves of greed), as those filled with greed were buried there.]!!
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