Interview: Wild Birds Regulation Unit, Malta

This is our full interview with Sergei Golovkin, which we obtained with the kind permission of the prime minister of Malta. Sergei has one of the toughest jobs on Malta. He has to keep the peace between the violent antis from Birdlife and CABS, led by TV personalities such as Chris Packham and Bill Oddie who have flown in from the UK, and the bird shooters of the island, who are carrying out a 1,000s-year-old sport, AND he has to work on the conservation of turtle doves.

For our film about the 2016 spring hunt, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KgP89RsrAU


Here is a breakdown of the topics Sergei covers in this film, with timecoded links to each one:
+ Was Sergei's department involved in the 2015 referendum on hunting? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=26s
+ Sergei on the special exemption from the European Birds Directive that allows Maltese to hunt turtle dove and quail and how the government enforces it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=44s
+ Turtle doves are legally hunted in 10 European cou ntries and the bags in Malta are by far the smallest of any country in the EU. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=2m19s
+ What are the causes of the decline in the turtle dove population? Not hunting. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=2m59s
+ Numbers of turtle doves shot in Malta are sustainable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=3m52s
+ How allowing hunting on Malta helps the conservation of turtle doves (by policing illegal hunting). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=4m27s
+ Malta has changed over the last three years. Malta has changed so much that it now chairs a Bern Convention Network on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=5m49s
+ Sergei condemns the conflict between BirdLife and the hunters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=6m50s
+ Sergei on extremism among anti and pro hunters. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=8m08s
+ Why a hunting ban will not work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=9m15s
+ How the spring hunting derogation works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=9m27s
+ The strict supervision of hunting in Malta and how it works http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCjg2TBKxDI#T=10m44s

This item appears on YouTube in Fieldsports Britain, episode 335 http://bit.ly/fieldsportsbritain335

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