ATTEMPTS by France to lengthen the hunting season across Europe cannot be justified scientifically and conflict with European laws designed to protect migratory birds, says a report from the European Parliament. The report, written by Dutch MEP Maartje van Putten for the parliament鈥檚 environment committee, says all hunting in Europe should stop at the end of January.
Van Putten鈥檚 report is the latest shot in the battle between France鈥檚 1.6 million hunters, who want the rules relaxed, and conservationists, who want more effective protection for migratory birds. At 7.5 months, France鈥檚 hunting season is the longest in Europe; the average is 5.2 months.
In January 1994, the European Court of Justice ruled that French hunting regulations violated a directive which says that hunting must stop once migratory birds begin to fly back to their nesting grounds in the north. Shortly after the ruling, the European Commission, then headed by Frenchman Jacques Delors, proposed changing the directive.
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Under the Commission鈥檚 proposal, the length of the hunting season would vary for each species depending on how healthy the bird population was and when migration began. Some species with healthy populations could be hunted for 20 days after the start of migration. If the population was less plentiful, hunting would be stopped 10 days after the first birds set off.
In April, the European Parliament refused a request for a quick vote on the proposal, and referred it to the environment committee for study. It is expected to vote on the issue early next year. In the meantime, France went ahead and passed a new law modelled on the proposal.
Van Putten concludes that it would be a 鈥渄angerous precedent鈥� to modify European legislation to satisfy member countries which have long disobeyed it. She says that it is an 鈥渋llusion鈥� to think such a complex system of seasons could be enforced.
She also warns that many hunters cannot identify the bird they are aiming at, especially when they are shooting at dawn or dusk. French scientists have shown that as many as 22 per cent of hunters cannot correctly identify a bird even after they have bagged it.
The European parliament鈥檚 agriculture committee disagrees with van Putten鈥檚 findings. Its response, drafted by British Labour MEP David Hallam, calls for flexibility in the interests of rural economies. Hallam suggests that if member countries can show that hunting after January will not have 鈥渁dverse consequences for the conservation of a particular species鈥� they may extend the hunt until the end of February.