S.L. 549.85 Art. 5Licence contents.

(1) Every Air Safety Bird Control licence shall:

(a) indicate the period when the control of birds may occur;

(b) provide that the control of birds other than for the species mentioned in the licence shall be prohibited;

(c) require the licensee to carry on his person the Air Safety Bird Control licence and any other necessary permits whilst carrying out any bird control activity;

(d) specify that bird control activities shall only take place if the Malta International Airport, in consultation with the Wild Birds Regulation Unit, deems that the birds present on the airport runway and, or on the aircraft movement areas poses an air-safety hazard;

(e) provide that methods of dispersal, such as the use of distress calls, bio-acoustics or the firing of blanks shall be implemented prior to resorting to the relocation or culling of birds, which culling may only be authorised once all other practical non-lethal means of bird control have been exhausted; Provided that the sites from where each bird relocated from the perimeter of the airport will be released shall be approved in advance by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit and any other relevant authority as applicable;

(f) provide that only fire-arms having a magazine capable of holding not more than two shots shall be allowed for culling and that the cartridges to be used are to be loaded with lead shots with a diameter of less than 3.3mm. Moreover, the use of the banned methods listed in regulation 7 of the Wild Birds Regulations shall also be prohibited, unless there is sufficient justification from an air safety point of view to depart from such prohibition, in which case the licence shall list such methods and specify that they shall only be used to avoid an air safety hazard and for no other purpose;

(g) require that for the purpose of culling, the person in possession of an Air Safety Bird Control licence holds a valid police permit to carry a firearm for the purpose of bird hunting on land and a valid general licence to hunt birds on land issued under the terms of the Conservation of Wild Birds Regulations;

(h) require that prior to the carrying out of a bird control operation, the licensee is to immediately inform Wild Birds Regulation Unit of his intention by means of an e-mail to the address indicated by the Director;

(i) provide that the Air Safety Bird Control licence and any other hunting licence or permit of the licensee [

shall not be issued to anyone convicted of an offence against Wild Birds Regulations and shall be immediately revoked and be without any effect should it transpire at any point in time that the licensee is, or has been, convicted of an offence against regulation 27 of the Wild Birds Regulations;

(j) require that culled birds are not to be left on site but shall be collected and disposed of as indicated by the Wild Birds Regulation Unit;

(k) require that any ring recoveries shall be reported by the licensee concerned to the Wild Birds Regulation Unit as soon as possible; and

(l) require the licensee to submit a report to the Wild Birds Regulation Unit on the activities undertaken within one month from the expiry of the Air-Safety Bird Control licence.

(2) Should the Wild Birds Regulation Unit find the licensee in breach of any of the licence conditions, the licence may be immediately revoked.