Regulations, 2025

L.N. 253 of 2025

ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION ACT

(CAP. 549)

Conservation of Wild Birds (Declaration on a Derogation Allowing

Scientific Research on Seven Finch Species in Autumn 2025)

Regulations, 2025

IN EXERCISE of the powers conferred by articles 54 and 55 of

the Environment Protection Act, the Minister responsible for the

environment in conjunction with the Minister for Gozo and Planning,

after consultation with the Environment and Resources Authority and

after taking into consideration the recommendations of the Malta Ornis

Committee * 1 , has made the following regulations:-

The title of these regulations is the Conservation of Wild Citation.

Birds (Declaration on a Derogation Allowing Scientific Research on

Seven Finch Species in Autumn 2025) Regulations, 2025 and these

regulations shall be read in conjunction with the Conservation of Wild S.L. 549.145.

Birds (Framework for Allowing a Derogation to Carry out Scientific

Research on Seven Finch Species) Regulations, hereinafter referred to

as the "Framework Regulations".

(1) For the purpose of these regulations and within the Scope,

meaning of Article 9 of Directive 2009/147/EC of the European statement

reasons and

Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the evidence

there is no other

conservation of wild birds, hereinafter referred to as the "Birds satisfactory

Directive", in particular as read in conjunction with Article 10 and solution.

Annex V(c) of the said Birds Directive, given that within the territory

of the Republic of Malta

(a) European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris), Hawfinch

(Coccothraustes coccothraustes), Common Chaffinch (Fringilla

coelebs), Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina), Eurasian Siskin

(Spinus spinus), European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and

European Serin (Serinus serinus), hereinafter referred to as "the

relevant species" or "finches", are non-resident, passage migrant

birds;

(b) ornithologists and licensed bird-ringers have been

unsuccessful in collecting, by means of the mist-net system,

* 1 The recommendations of the Malta Ornis Committee on this derogation under Article 9(1)(b) of the

Birds Directive for research on the seven finch species and associated parameters are available on

the site: https://wbru.gov.mt/en/the-department/ornis-committee/.

which is the least selective method of capturing birds, the

required data to meet the stated objective of the Finches

Research Project* * 2 , with a view to providing conclusive

information on the regions of origin of the main bird contingents

(reference population), as is evidenced by the very limited ring

recovery data collected during the period between 1920 and

2018* ** 3 and as also attested by the judgment of the Court of

Justice of the European Union in Case C-557/15;

(c) the success of the Finches Research Project in

answering its research question "where do finches that migrate

over Malta during post-nuptial (autumn) migration come from?"

does not depend exclusively on the participation of

ornithologists, as evidenced by the number of foreign ring

recoveries that were recorded by licensed data collectors,

without the collaboration of ornithologists, during the finches

research periods of autumn 2020–2024*** *** 4 , which data

collection attests the valuable contribution to research of this

citizen science initiative by tapping into the data collectors’

skills in handling, identifying and sexing of finches, in line with

the principle objectives of the European Commission’s "Green

Paper on Citizen Science"*** **** 5 ;

(d) bird-ringers who participate in the national ringing

scheme do not use live-decoys for the purpose of scientific

ringing and control, which live-decoys are the key component of

the clap-net system*** ***** 6 that "enables a more selective

capturing of birds than mist-nets"*** ****** 7 ;

* ** 2 The report "Malta’s finches research project: scope and methodology", dated May 2020, is avail-

able on the site: https://wbru.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/maltaFinchResScopeMethod-

1.pdf.

** * 3 Data on ring recoveries of the relevant species controlled in Malta by means of the mist-net sys-

tem from 1920s to 2018 is available on the sites: https://birdlifemalta.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/

08/BLM-Report_The-international-impact-of-hunting-and-trapping-in-the-Maltese-Islands.pdf

[Section 3.4 and 3.5.3] and https://wbru.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ringRecov0818-1.pdf.

The total number of foreign ring recoveries collected by ornithologists in Malta during this 99-year

period is as follows: fifty-three (53) Linnets, sixteen (16) Siskins, sixteen (16) Serins, sixteen (16)

Greenfinches, seven (7) Chaffinches and four (4) Goldfinches.

*** *** 4 In contrast to the method adopted by ornithologists and bird-ringers when using the mist-net

system for capturing the relevant species (vide previous footnote), during the autumn 2020–2024

Finches Research Project, the data collectors, by using the clap-net system, recorded a total of 33

foreign ring recoveries from the relevant species: five (5) Linnets, twenty-five (25) Siskins [16 of

which were recorded during the research period of autumn 2023], a Greenfinch, a Serin and the first

foreign ring recovery of a Hawfinch recorded during the research period of autumn 2023. This for-

eign ring recovery data collected by the licensed data collectors during autumn 2020–2024 was ver-

ified and confirmed by EURING through the national ringing scheme.

**** *** 5 European Commission. (2013). "Green Paper on Citizen Science: Citizen Science for Europe

- Towards a Society of Empowered Citizens and Enhanced Research", available on the site: https://

digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/green-paper-citizen-science-europe-towards-society-

empowered-citizens-and-enhanced-research.

(e) bird censuses*** * 8 , as is the case within the rest of

the Territory of the European Union and elsewhere, are designed

to monitor population size and status, including changes in

breeding and wintering populations and thus cannot provide any

insight on the provenance of populations of migratory species;

(f) bird migration studies record the influx of specimens

through space and time by means of observational counts*** ** 9

and thus it is impossible to determine, from such studies, which

of the migrating specimens from the relevant species are fitted

with a scientific ring and which are not, and equally impossible

to record the details of such rings, unless the specimens from the

relevant species are captured and examined physically; and

(g) the lack of robust baseline ring recovery data,

coupled with unpredictable and complex factors********* *** 10

that influence the movement of migratory populations of finches

from their breeding grounds to their wintering grounds during

post-nuptial migration, renders large-scale modelling – a purely

probabilistic approach that requires mass data to prove reliable –

inappropriate to determine the migration ecology of finches and,

consequently, inappropriate to determine the population of the

regions from which the largest numbers of migratory finches

come before passing through Malta, which explains why

population models mainly focus on studies related to population

dynamics, including predator-prey relationship, rather than on

bird migration.

(2)

The Minister, after ascertaining that

***** *** 6 A report on selectivity and mesh-size and how the clap-net system operates was presented

by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit to the Malta Ornis Committee on 31 July 2019 (included as

Annex A to the Committee minutes of the same meeting), available on the site: https://wbru.gov.mt/

wp-content/uploads/2024/03/oMinThirtstJul19.pdf.

****** *** 7 Vide paragraph 79 of the Opinion of Advocate General Ćapeta in Case C-23/23, Euro-

pean Commission v. Republic of Malta, delivered on 30 May 2024, available on the site: https://

curia.europa.eu/juris/document/document.jsf?text=&docid=286577&pageIn-

dex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&occ=first&part=1&cid=884890.

**** 8 Vide, for example, the birds census objectives of the Pan-European Common Birds Monitoring

Scheme (PECBMS) and the Birds Directive Article 12 reporting obligations, available on the sites

https://www.ebcc.info/what-we-do/pecbms/ and https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-be/activities/

reporting/article-12 respectively.

****** 9 Vide, for example, the objective and methodology of Malta’s finches migration study that is

carried out annually between 15 October and 15 January, available on the site: https://wbru.gov.mt/

wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Finches-migration-study-report-2023.pdf.

*** ********* 10 These include, inter alia, habitat preferences, resource availability, population

demographics and weather patterns. Predicting, quantifying, and communicating these uncertainties

can be challenging, particularly when translating model outputs into conservation recommendations

or management actions. Vide: Martin, T. G., Wintle, B. A., Rhodes, J. R., Kuhnert, P. M., Field, S.

A., Low-Choy, S. J. and Possingham, H. P., "Zero tolerance ecology: Improving ecological infer-

ence by modelling the source of zero observations", Ecology Letters, 8(11), 2005, 1235-1246.

(a) the aforementioned statement of reasons and

evidence are based on the best relevant scientific knowledge;

(b) the design, scope and methodology of the Finches

Research Project are best suited to answer the research question

"where do finches that migrate over Malta during post-nuptial

(autumn) migration come from?";

(c) the design, scope and methodology of the Finches

Research Project render it the least intrusive scientific research

method that is capable of yielding satisfactory results, whilst

adhering to ethical standards that are in line with international

practice; and

(d) the Finches Research Project shall have all the necessary

safeguards, including its implementation under supervised

conditions********* * 11 and the adoption of ring recovery data

collection techniques based on established scientific-based practices

and standards, as already applied by data collectors, on the safe

handling of specimens from the relevant species, is hereby

ascertaining the absence of another satisfactory solution to carry out a

comprehensive research study (the "Finches Research Project") by

allowing licensed data collectors to use registered clap-nets, as the

most selective method of capturing specimens from the relevant

species, in order to check for and record foreign ring recoveries

(control) on a ring recovery form issued for this purpose together with

their special research licence, followed by the immediate release of all

captured specimens back into the wild, and by also allowing licensed

bird-ringers, who are hereby formally invited together with EURING

to reconsider their objections to the Finches Research Project, to place

scientific rings on those specimens from the relevant species captured

by data collectors that are not fitted with such rings, followed by their

immediate release back into the wild, insofar as this is absolutely

necessary to obtain data to determine Malta’s reference population of

the relevant species, in accordance with the provisions of the Birds

Directive and the Framework Regulations.

* ********* 11 The Framework Regulations provide for daily police spot-checks in all regions of Malta

and Gozo for the time when a research period is open until at least four weeks from the termination

of the research period with an enforcement deployment "in the region of fifty (50) Police officers".

Throughout the previous finches research derogation periods (autumn 2020–2024), there was a min-

imum of one (1) spot-check for every two (2) data collectors and a maximum of six (6) spot-checks

for every five (5) data collectors at any given time in all regions, calculated as a percentage of the

total number of spot-checks carried out and the total number of special research licences issued for

each finches research derogation period. Since the number of special research licence holders (data

collectors) participating in the finches research project concurrently on any given day of the deroga-

tion periods was much lower than the total number of licences issued, the number of daily spot-

checks on individual data collectors was much higher overall, and higher still when the number of

data collectors that took part in the research on any given day during the research period was the

lowest.

The terms and expressions used in these regulations, unless Interpretation.

the context otherwise requires, shall have the same meaning assigned

to them in the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations, hereinafter S.L. 549.42.

referred to as the "Wild Birds Regulations", and in the Framework

Regulations.

(1) The research period and its associated parameters Research

shall be in accordance with the provisions of these regulations, with according

framework and

the provisions of the Framework Regulations and the special research the

research licence

licence conditions.

conditions.

(2) For the purpose of these regulations, specimens from the

relevant species shall only be captured by selective nets known as

clap-nets in accordance with the Framework Regulations and the

special research licence conditions.

(3) Special research licence holders may capture and handle

birds from the relevant species to determine which specimens are fitted

with a scientific ring, to record the scientific ring identification

numbers (control), report all specimens captured in real-time after the

immediate release back into the wild of all such specimens from the

same research site, and submit the ring recovery form supplied for this

purpose by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit within the period

established by the Unit following closure of the research period, in

accordance with the special research licence conditions and in

accordance with the provisions of regulation 7 of the Framework

Regulations.

(4) Licensed bird-ringers may affix a scientific ring on

specimens pertaining to the relevant species, followed by their

immediate release back into the wild from the same research site in

accordance with the provisions of sub-regulation 7(5) of the

Framework Regulations.

For the purpose of establishing the dates and duration of the Establishment

research period in accordance with regulation 8 of the Framework of

period.

Regulations, and for the purpose of these regulations, the research

period for the relevant species for the year 2025 shall be sixty-two (62)

days from 20 th October 2025 to 20 th December 2025, both dates

included, for European Greenfinch (Chloris chloris), Hawfinch

(Coccothraustes coccothraustes), Common Chaffinch (Fringilla

coelebs), Common Linnet (Linaria cannabina), Eurasian Siskin

(Spinus spinus), European Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) and

European Serin (Serinus serinus)

Provided that the provisions of these regulations shall cease

to have effect and no research activity shall be permitted in the event

that the Minister orders, by notice in the Gazette or any other notice,

that the research period is to terminate immediately or at a date as

specified by the Minister. All licensees shall be informed immediately

of such termination by means of a text message service (SMS) to the

number indicated by that person in the application for a special

research licence.

Special research licences shall be issued upon the payment

of a nominal fee of twenty-five euro (€25), provided the conditions

stipulated in regulation 10(5) of the Framework Regulations are

fulfilled.

€0.54