The threat of hunting looms over Tilos
The twelve year old hunting ban on Tilos is in danger of being lifted. The ban has protected our endangered bird species identified by the European Union as being of special global importance. Renewed efforts by national hunting clubs and others to lift the hunting ban on our small (63 sq. km.) island were announced publicly on Friday August 27, 2004 by the new Secretary General of the Aegean Periphery, an appointee of the newly elected Greek government. Our Association delivered a written response to the Periphery office on Monday August 30 providing scientific and legal bases in support of the ban. Official hunting season begins in Greece on September 15, 2004.
On September 3, 2004, the Tilos City Council passed a resolution supporting the continuation of the existing hunting ban on the island and authorized Mayor Anastasios Aliferis, MD, to take all necessary actions to preserve the ban to protect our irreplaceable and endangered aviary wildlife.
The residents of Tilos who support the hunting ban are asking for your help. Please, consider sending an e-mail to the Secretary General of the Periphery of Southern Aegean in support of the continuation of the hunting ban on Tilos. The General Secretary’s e-mail address is: [email protected] .Please, consider joining our Association. Your membership support will add strength to our efforts and assist us in responding to the public opinion campaign that the hunting clubs have engaged to gain support for the lifting of the hunting ban on our island.
The Tilos Park Response
On August 28, 2004, the Director of our Association was notified of the Periphery of Southern Aegean General Secretary’s decision to examine the issue of lifting the existing hunting ban on the island of Tilos. This information arrived together with the disturbing news heard on the radio that the five thousand members of the Dodecanese hunting clubs were preparing an “invasion” on the island in an effort to “punish” the Municipality for its “renegade” approach to hunting.
The very next business day after we were informed of the disturbing news, the following letter (written in Greek and English) was submitted via facsimile and by e-mail to the General Secretary of the Periphery of Southern Aegean with confirmation of its receipt and documented protocol.
August 30, 2004
Charalampos Kokkinos
Secretary General
Periphery of Southern Aegean
Eptanisou 35
GR-84100 Ermoupolis
E-mail: [email protected]
Dear Secretary General:
It has come to my attention as Acting Director of the Tilos Park Association, a non-profit Association, that the Office of the Southern Aegean Periphery is considering the issue of whether to lift the hunting ban on the portion of Tilos Island that is not included in the permanent Wildlife Refuge established by the Greek Ministry of Agriculture.
Since your recent appointment to the Office of the Aegean Periphery, on which I would like to extend my sincere congratulations, it is understandable that there has not been a sufficient amount of time for you to become familiar with the unique characteristics and circumstances of Tilos that distinguish it from the other islands in the Dodecanese island chain. It is, therefore, with respect that I would like to take this opportunity to acquaint your office with the recent developments concerning the laws of the European Union that govern Tilos as a Special Protection Area, a status which has already been conferred upon our island in its entirety and, most importantly, the economic viability of the island in the foreseeable future that is of great importance to us all.
European Union Laws
As you are undoubtedly aware, European Union Council Directive 79/409/EEC issued April 2, 1979 governs the actions taken by all of the Member States concerning the conservation of bird species living in the wild state in the European territory of the Member States. The Directive requires the protection, management and control of these species. The European Court of Justice has the judicial authority to interpret the provisions of the Directive. As a result, case law has been developing on the subject for the last twenty five years. It is well established that Greece, as a Member State, has an affirmative legal obligation to implement all of the provisions of the Directive [Commission vs. Belgium, Case No. 247/85, ECR 1987, page 3029, paragraph 6].
Pertinent parts of the Directive, relevant case law and advisory documents provided by the Commission of the European Union as herein collectively discussed are attached hereto as Addendum I for your convenience and referral.
Tilos Has Endangered Species Required By The EU To Be Protected
Based upon the extensive independent scientific documentation of the species of wild birds nesting, breeding and feeding throughout the island [see Life Natura LIFE04NAT/GR/00101 entitled “Tilos: Conservation Management of an Island Special Protection Area” hereinafter referred to as “Natura Study”] and the measures that need to be affirmatively taken in order to conserve such naturally occurring species on Tilos including species identified as endangered in the Directive and having international importance [see Natura Study], Greece is legally bound by the provisions of the Directive to act affirmatively to ensure the protection of these birds.
The Directive Identifies The Actions To Be Taken By Greece
Greece is required to protect the bird species governed by the Directive; conserve their habitat where they nest, breed and forage for food; and avoid significant disturbances to the birds that would endanger their lives or cause them to devote unnecessary energy to flight from danger rather than feeding and reproducing.
Your attention is invited to Article 4 of the Directive that provides the legal framework for our obligations. Our bird species “shall be the subject of special conservation measures concerning their habitat in order to ensure their survival and reproduction in their area of distribution” [Article 4, Section 1]. “In respect of the protection areas referred to in Section 1 … above, Member States shall take appropriate steps to avoid ANY significant disturbances affecting the birds regarding the objectives of this Article” [Article 4, Section 4].
Endangered Bird Species on Tilos Are Subject To Disturbances By Human Activity
Tilos is internationally recognized by the scientific community as being a “small island” of 63 square km [Natura Study, Section B, 2004-6/1]. The nesting and breeding sites of the endangered species targeted by the Natura Study and included in the Directive have been documented on an illustrated map of Tilos, a copy of which is available for your review. According to the map, the endangered bird of prey species as well as the birds on which they feed (such as the Chukar) are scattered throughout the island. Therefore, the introduction of a new human activity on the island, such as hunting, (previously unknown to the current generation of birds) would create a significant disturbance as such term of art has become developed by the European Court of Justice and the Commission of the European Union.
According to the Natura Study, 11/3 entitled “Threat 3”, page 15, “Nearly all threatened species present in the [Tilos] site are affected by human-induced and inappropriate pressures due to lack of awareness.” In the European Court of Justice Case No. C-435/92 [France], the Court interpreted the meaning of “disturbance” of wildlife and noted that disturbance is not limited to the depletion of the species. The term “disturbance” has been developed to include the concept that “disturbances caused by hunting force these birds to devote most of their energy to moving to other spots and to fleeing to the detriment of time spent feeding and resting.” [Guidance Document on Hunting Under Council Directive 79/409EEC on Conservation of Wild Birds, Article 2.6.15]
National, Regional and Local Greece Conservation Measures Included Hunting Ban
In reliance upon the affirmative obligations imposed upon Greece under the Directive to protect our bird species on Tilos and with the understanding that the international community has been monitoring our actions, the Ministry of Agriculture through its establishment of our Wild Refuge area on sixty percent of the island and the Office of the Southern Aegean Periphery through its Administrative Order banning hunting on the remaining forty percent, began the conservation measures required to be taken under the provisions of the Directive. These actions taken at the national and regional levels in concert with the continuous support of the Municipality of Tilos reflect the mandatory legal compliance required to be taken by Greece in order to avoid potential prosecution under the terms of the Directive.
Life Natura Project Investment Completes Greece’s Conservation Obligations
As of the date of this letter, Greece is in full compliance with the terms of the Directive by taking affirmative conservation measures to protect the island bird species listed in the Directive by committing to the implementation of the terms of a Life Natura Project on Tilos. This Natura program approved in 2004 by the Commission of the European Union provides Eight Hundred Fifty Thousand Euros of investment capital to the island. The partnership consisting of the European Union, the Greek Ministry of Agriculture, the Municipality of Tilos and Oikos E.P.E. is currently in the process of building the infrastructure for the bird conservation as well as for the equally important ecotourism that is vital to the economy of the island. Lifting the hunting ban would directly conflict with and undermine the objectives of the Life Natura program as set forth in the Natura Study.
Reducing Protection Area By Lifting Hunting Ban Violates EU Case Law
Case No. C-57/89, Commission of the European Communities vs. The Federal Republic of Germany concerns the application of the habitat protection provisions of Article 4 of the Directive and directly relates to the subject of removing hunting ban restrictions on Tilos currently under consideration by your office. The Court stated “That interpretation of Article 4 Section 4 of the Directive is borne out by the ninth recital in the preamble which underlines the special importance which the Directive attaches to special conservation measures concerning the habitats of the birds listed in Annex I [of the Directive] in order to ensure their survival and reproduction in their areas of distribution. It follows that the power of Member States to reduce the extent of a special protection area can be justified ONLY on exceptional grounds.”
Thirty percent of Tilos’ resident bird species are listed in Annex I of the Directive and Tilos is already designated as a Special Protection Area with hunting ban restrictions imposed on the entire island for the last decade by the Greek governmental authorities. According to judicial precedent, ANY reduction of the special protection area already existing on Tilos by the introduction of hunting can only be justified on exceptional grounds which do not exist in the subject case of Tilos and may require accountability to the Commission of the European Union through questions posed by members of the European Parliament.
Allowing Hunting Violates Guidance Document on Hunting Under 79/409/EEC
Pursuant to Article 2, Section 4, Subsection 2 of the Guidance Document on Hunting Under Directive 79/409/EEC, “Article 7, Sections 1 and 4 of the Directive require the implementation of general principles that must be applied in relation to the practice of hunting. Member States MUST ensure that hunting … does not jeopardize conservation efforts in their [the birds’] area of distribution. This clearly implies that the practice of hunting must not represent a significant threat to efforts for the conservation of both huntable and non-huntable species. The national hunting regime should take into account this potential disturbing aspect of hunting.”
In consideration of the massive conservation efforts currently being undertaken by the Life Natura program on Tilos under the auspices of the Commission of the European Union, any introduction of hunting on this small island would present a significant disturbance to all of the wild bird species thus jeopardizing the conservation efforts and violating the provisions of the aforementioned documents.
Falco Eleonorae Reproduces During Hunting Season, Therefore Hunting Prohibited
The endangered resident bird of prey species entitled Falco eleonorae which nests and breeds on Tilos in the autumn, would be significantly disturbed by any introduction of hunting to this small island as evidenced by the location of its documented nesting sites identified on the illustrated map referred to above. The time period for reproduction as such term is used in the ornithological community includes the time required by young birds to attain the ability of flight. Therefore, the reproduction period incorporating nesting, egg hatching and flight learning activities occurs during and therefore conflicts with the hunting season which must therefore be disallowed on Tilos.
Relying Upon Compliance With EU Laws, Tilos Developed Ecotourism
As evidenced by the letter of support for maintaining the complete hunting ban that your office received from the President of the Tilos Hotel Association, the Tilos tourism industry has worked hard through significant promotional investment to develop ecotourism on the island. Ecotourism within the tourist industry embodies the concept of tourist attraction to sites of natural beauty and special protection allowing visitors to approach wildlife in its native habitat without fear or flight on the part of nature. Hunting incites universal fear of man in wildlife species threatened by such an incursion into their natural habitat. Tourists specifically seek nature tours of locations that have hunting bans so that they can get close to nature, photograph, observe and often paint the wildlife scenes on their holiday journeys.
It is with great pleasure that I can report to you our progress to date on the success of our ecotourism promotion. As a result of our comprehensive promotional efforts to ecotourism operators and the Tilos Municipality’s advertising investment (illustrations of which are available for your review), we are in the process of negotiating directly with international ecotourism operators including two large ecotourism operators in Scandinavia and Germany for 2005 bookings. “My travel” is the Scandinavian tour operator with more than one million clients per year, and their office has specifically developed an ecotourism department exclusively for such eco-holidays. Their office representatives have visited Tilos as the island’s guests and are preparing packages for Tilos as a holiday destination. The second operator is a German travel agency which has advised us of their present intention to introduce One Thousand Five Hundred (1,500) clients to Tilos in April 2005 representing approximately Seven Hundred Fifty Thousand Euros (750,000 euros) of travel investment in our island, exclusive of restaurant and gift purchases that are customarily made by visitors.
The financial revenue to this island during the “off season” during which ecotourism thrives due to the favorable weather conditions for viewing and experiencing nature is of extreme critical importance to this small island whose economy is essentially predicated upon tourism. To fill hotel rooms and restaurants during the “off seasons” when our weather is accommodating, boat travel is viable, wildlife is abundant and diverse, and our residents desperately seek employment is an objective which the Municipality of Tilos, the Tilos Hotel Association, the Tilos Culture Association and the Tilos Park Foundation have been working hard to achieve for years.
According to the Natura Study, Section 11/3, “local people are aware of the general value of the site [Tilos], primarily due to the Municipality’s hunting restriction initiatives.” Such European Union recognition of the value of Tilos PRIMARILY due to the hunting ban is further evidence of the contribution that the hunting ban has made to the economy of the island which is currently proving in financial terms to be realized and significant through the employment and revenue benefits accruing through ecotourism.
Office of the Periphery Failure to Notify Citizens of Public Meeting Re: Hunting
I was disappointed to learn that your meeting with the Mayor of Tilos on Friday August 27, 2004 was represented to Dr. Aliferis in advance to be a private and informal meeting at your office when in actual fact the meeting consisted of a large partisan group including representatives of the Greek Hunting Clubs. The failure by your office to provide adequate public notice of a public meeting in a government office during regular business hours to discuss a subject of local, regional, national and European Union importance with legal, political and socio-economic significance is very disturbing. The failure of such public notice and the invitation extended by your office to Greek Hunting Club representatives resulting in the exclusion of other interested parties is inconsistent with the democratic principles upon which our nation operates. This occurrence should be alarming to those who learn of this unfortunate oversight by receipt of copies of this letter as set forth below.
Conclusion
For reasons set forth above, the Tilos Park Foundation opposes the termination of the hunting ban restrictions under consideration by your office and supports any legal, including injunctive, relief that may be undertaken to preserve the status quo on the island. Tilos has successfully made the transition to eco-tourism representing a significant financial contribution and revenue base for island employment. Tilos eco-tourism is now sufficiently advanced to provide a specific amount of money damages (representing evidentiary proof) that would be sustained in the event of loss of tour bookings should the hunting ban be lifted by the Office of the Aegean Periphery.
Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Sincerely yours,
Konstantinos A. Mentzelopoulos
Director
cc:
1. Jillian Evans, Member of the European Parliament, Committee on the Environment.
2. Dr. Anastasios Aliferis, Mayor, Tilos Municipality.
3. Michalis Kypreos, President, Tilos Hotel Association.
4. Xenofon Kappas, Director, Hellenic Ornithological Society
5. George Sfikas, President, Greek Society for the Protection of Nature.
We Need Your Help
Please, consider becoming a Member of the Tilos Park Association. Your membership will add strength to our voice in the preservation of the natural heritage of Tilos. To receive a membership application package, please respond to this e-mail by filling out and returning the following form to Tilos-Par[email protected] . Thank you for your consideration and your support.
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