Conservation Note
Geoffrey Saliba on illegal hunting in Malta
A second conversation with BirdLife Malta's campaigns coordinator on the illegal shooting and trapping of migrating birds, and what campaigning costs.
Geoffrey Saliba ran campaigns for BirdLife Malta and was among those leading the effort against the illegal shooting of migrants over the islands. This was his second appearance in the series.
Malta sits on a migration route where birds crossing the Mediterranean are concentrated into a narrow corridor, which makes it both an exceptional place to watch migration and an exceptionally efficient place to shoot it. Protected species (raptors, herons, storks and spoonbills among them) are shot in numbers every spring and autumn, and the enforcement position has long been contested.
The conversation covered the campaigning itself as much as the ornithology: monitoring illegal shooting, documenting it in a way that stands up, and working in a small country where the hunting lobby is organised, politically connected and not reliably peaceable. Conservation organisations and monitoring groups operating in Malta have reported assaults on their staff, and the practical question of how to run a campaign under those conditions was a substantial part of the discussion.
BirdLife Malta publishes current reporting on spring hunting, enforcement and derogations.