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Shooting packages from Malta to Egypt 
Bird-hunting package tours to Egypt are being run from Malta according to 
tne latest RSPB Birds magazine. The price includes a porter for each 
participant to carry dead birds. Brochures guarantee bags of hundreds of 
ducks, Turtle Doves, Stone-curlews, plovers and 'every species of bird one 
can image' in the Fayoum area, and illustrate earlier groups, standing 
beside Egyptian ruins, surrounded by literally hundreds of dead birds. 
Egyptian Geese are 'unusual' birds on offer. Conservationists in Malta 
identified protected species, and bird skins were confiscated as groups 
returned from Cairo; but the tour organiser claimed to have licences 
'irrespective of whether these were protected species', and said that the 
dead birds were vermin. The skins were returned to the hunters by the 
authorities, who chose to disregard the wildlife legislation. 
Turkey 
GSksu Delta - damaging tourist development 
The southern coast of Turkey has seen much tourist development during the 
last 10 years. Recently, we reported the development at Dalyan Beach 
( QSME Bull . 20:56). Development has also been taking place in the Gbksu 
Delta since at least 1986. According to Dogal Hayati Koruma Dernegi (The 
Society for the Protection of Wildlife, Turkey), however, a new holiday 
village just north of Paradeniz GolU is a serious threat to the whole 
area. The main concerns are that the drainage around the village will 
affect the water balance of the whole wetland, and that the increased 
number of visitors will cause unacceptable disturbance. A bridge has been 
built over the channel that connects Ak Gol to the sea, so hunters can now 
circle the whole area in four-wheel-drive vehicles, something previously 
impossible . 
Since the Goksu Delta is one of the most important bird areas not only in 
Turkey but also in the eastern Mediterranean, as well as being an 
important nesting area for sea turtles, DHKD has requested that people 
write letters of protest to the Turkish Government. In addition to the 
above, it is important to stress that the construction of houses north of 
Paradeniz Golii should be stopped immediately, and that no further 
development should take place until the conservation status of the area 
has been fully assessed and the area given proper protection. Since 
Europeans are increasingly going to Turkey for their summer holidays, it 
is not inappropriate that they should express concern, so that Turkey 
avoids the mistakes that were made in holiday developments in the European 
Community. Turkey has a marvellous potential for tourism, but it needs to 
be a carefully planned, sustainable development, based on the principles 
of the World Conservation Strategy and the Brundtland Report. 
