CONSERVATION OF WILD BIRDS (DECLARATION ON A DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN

DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON

SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN 2024)

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 549.171

CONSERVATION OF WILD BIRDS (DECLARATION

ON A DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC

RESEARCH ON SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN

2024) REGULATIONS

20th October, 2024

LEGAL NOTICE 270 of 2024.

The title of these regulations is the Conservation of Wild

Birds (Declaration on a Derogation Allowing Scientific Research on

Seven Finch Species in Autumn 2024) Regulations, 2024 and these

regulations shall be read in conjunction with the Conservation of Wild

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

Parliament and of the Council of 30 November 2009 on the

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

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

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

Common

Chaffinch

coccothraustes),

(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,

which is the least selective method of capturing birds, the

required data to meet the stated objective of the Finches

Research Project * , 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

*The report "Malta’s finches research project: scope and methodol-

ogy", dated May 2020, is available on the site: https://

wbru.gov.mt/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/maltaFinchResS-

copeMethod-1.pdf.

DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON

SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN 2024)

1920 and 2018 * 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 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

2020–2023 † , 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" ‡ ;

(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 § that "enables a more

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

bird censuses †† , as is the case within the rest of

(e)

* Data on ring recoveries of the relevant species controlled in Malta by means of the

mist-net system 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.

† 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 2020–2023 Finches Research Project, the data collectors, by using the clap-net

system, recorded a total of 32 foreign ring recoveries from the relevant species: four

(4) 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 foreign ring

recovery data collected by the licensed data collectors during autumn 2020–2023 was

verified and confirmed by EURING through the national ringing scheme.

‡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.

§ 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.

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

European 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&pageIndex=0&doclang=EN&mode=req&dir=&o

cc=first&part=1&cid=884890.

†† 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.

DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON

SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN 2024)

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 * 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 † 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

(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

*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.

†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 inference by modelling the source

of zero observations", Ecology Letters, 8(11), 2005, 1235-1246.

DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON

SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN 2024)

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 * 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.

The terms and expressions used in these regulations,

unless the context otherwise requires, shall have the same meaning

assigned to them in the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations,

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

Framework Regulations.

* 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 2020–2023), there was a minimum of three (3) spot-

checks for every five (5) data collectors and a maximum of one (1) spot-check for

every data collector 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 derogation 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.

DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON

SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN 2024)

(1)

The research period and its associated parameters

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

the provisions of the Framework Regulations and the special research

licence 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 research period in accordance with regulation 8 of the Framework

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

period for the relevant species for the year 2024 shall be sixty-two (62)

days from the date of publication of these regulations for European

Greenfinch

(Chloris

Hawfinch

(Coccothraustes

chloris),

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

DEROGATION ALLOWING SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH ON

SEVEN FINCH SPECIES IN AUTUMN 2024)

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

conditions stipulated in regulation 10(5) of the Framework

Regulations are fulfilled.