Hunters in Malta will be permitted to shoot 5,000 turtle doves this spring despite the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) recently adding the migratory bird to the “red list” of species at risk of being wiped out.

The Maltese government, the only EU member to allow recreational spring hunting, said it was taking “special measures” to minimise the impact of its shoot on the bird’s plummeting population, cutting the shooters’ allowance from 11,000 birds.

But conservationists said continuing the spring hunt went against the best scientific advice and appealed for the EU to take action against Malta.

“The government has taken the wrong political decision,” said Mark Sultana, chief executive of Birdlife Malta. “Rather than giving weight to the scientific data they opted to open a season with limitations. We do not believe that there is enough will and resources to ensure those limitations will be kept.”

The turtle dove population has fallen by 96% in Britain since 1970 and its numbers have fallen across Europe by more than a third in the last 16 years.

Malta secured two opt-outs, or derogations, from the EU’s Birds Directive, allowing Maltese hunters to shoot turtle doves and quail as they fly over the Mediterranean island in the spring. These opt-outs are based on a European court of justice (ECJ) ruling, which permitted Malta to seek such derogations on the basis that the turtle dove population remained at a favourable level.

“The status of the turtle dove is definitely not favourable now,” said Sultana, who called on the European commission to stop Malta’s spring hunt. “This could be a breach of the [ECJ] ruling, and Malta could be fined by the EU. The EU has the legal right to do it. Whether they have the will to do it – that’s where we found a stumbling block. We are hoping that the scientific data will give them more courage to take this step.”

Eduardo Gonçalves, chief executive of the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “It’s absolutely incomprehensible that the Maltese government can justify allowing the spring hunt to go ahead for another year. The science shows that the turtle dove is in serious decline but instead of listening to the science the Maltese government has bowed to a vociferous hunting lobby.

“The hunting of birds in spring is prohibited in EU law. It’s time the EU acted. People should contact their MEPs and tell them what they think.”

Liberal Democrat MEP, Catherine Bearder, said: “Now the bird has been officially listed as endangered, there is no way this hunting can be declared sustainable. The EU must step in and enforce the law to save the turtle dove before it is too late.”

The Maltese narrowly rejected banning spring hunting in a referendum last year in which 50.4% of voters favoured a continuation of their traditional shoot. Last autumn, the IUCN moved the species on to its global “red list”. The bird is also classified as “near threatened” on the EU red list.

Among measures to regulate its hunt, the Maltese government announced a reduction in the autumn turtle dove shooting season from five months to September only, permitting the slaughter of 7,000 additional birds. But conservationists say this apparent reduction is unlikely to help turtle doves or impact upon the hunters’ pastime.

A boy arranges a banner on the ground during a Spring Hunting Out rally in the run-up to a referendum last year that narrowly rejected banning the event. Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

Thousands of turtle doves use Malta as a staging post on their southerly migration in autumn but they are rarely seen after September so restricting the shoot to that month will have no impact. Numbers of shot turtle doves officially recorded have not exceeded 5,000 in any of the last five spring seasons: hunters declared that 4,131 birds were shot in the spring of 2014 and 2,014 last spring. Birdlife Malta casts doubt on the accuracy of these official figures.

One bird which evaded the Maltese shoot last year was Titan, a turtle dove fitted with a lightweight satellite tag which was tracked by the RSPB on its 5,600km migration from Suffolk to Mali and back again.

“This pioneering science provided us with valuable data that allows our conservation scientists to target their work far more effectively, giving turtle doves the best chance of survival,” said Jamie Wyver of the RSPB. “It is telling that Malta remains the only country in the European Union to allow the hunting of turtle doves in spring.”