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“In order to regulate bird hunting bans more clearly, it was decided to include additional safeguards in the hunting rules that are currently being harmonized. Also, in the spring, the Hunting Council formed a separate working group, which will prepare proposals for the uniform regulation of hunting bans in all protected areas, ”the ministry told the SNB.
Reservations manager: regulation has become unclear
The head of the Directorate of the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve Arūnas Pranaitis, who met with the direction of the Ministry of the Environment on Friday, expressed concern about the open loopholes.
In the BNS, he affirmed that according to current legal regulations, the prohibition of hunting included in the legal acts that regulate hunting is valid only in the central part of the biosphere reserve – Žuvintas nature reserve, that is, approximately 6 thousand. hectares.
In July, at the proposal of the Minister of the Environment Kęstutis Mažeika, the Government amended the regulations of the Žuvintas Reserve. According to A. Pranaitis, after doing it, three times as wide, that is, 18.5 thousand. In the biosphere reserve that covers an area of 1 hectare, the regulation has become “quite confusing”, since it no longer covers the prohibitions provided in the management plan of the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve.
According to him, this is particularly worrisome at the beginning of the hunting season, since hunters can only be punished with warnings or fines of several tens of euros, by park rules, but not by hunting infractions. Furthermore, in his opinion, protected area officials would now have no right to detain a hunter.
“The previous version of the regulation established that” and other “laws regulating hunting must be complied with. It was like another piece of legislation that we were able to use the provisions of the Management Plan of the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve that contained these entries. clarity in regulations, lawyers, of course, have to examine and say if those other legal acts are valid, ”said A. Pranaitis.
Photo by Lukas April / 15 minutes / Arūnas Pranaitis
“Now hunters can say bluntly: unfortunately there is no signal, there is no limit, and you say you cannot hunt here?” Said the reservation manager.
At the time, the Environment Ministry said on Friday that such a management plan was still valid for hunters and that hunting was not allowed throughout the reserve, as it is not allowed by law in “grasshoppers, white-fronted geese, gray geese and white-fronted geese “, unless the large cormorant population is regulated. in ponds.
According to A. Pranaitis, hunting of water and wetland birds (geese, ducks, thunder goats and others that are included in the game bird list) should be prohibited in the Žuvintas Biosphere Reserve.
“In principle, hunting in open areas is a major disruption for bird populations. You know that hunters do not hunt in the middle of the white day, they are generally hunted early in the morning or at night, at a time when the birds flock to the Žuvintas reserve for the night. (…) If hunting were allowed, the disturbance would undoubtedly be enormous to protected species, that is, gray capstans and migratory geese. Guaranteed, decrease in abundance it would be obvious, ”he said of the danger.
Congratulations on acknowledging the problem
The head of the directorate, however, welcomes the fact that the ministry has finally recognized the problem, promising to harmonize the legislation properly.
“The ministry says that hunting rules should be revised and include relevant regulations to avoid such ambiguity, since hunters are unaware of protected area rules and we, as protected area officials, cannot penalize hunters for non-compliance with the rules. provisions of the Management Plan. We can only punish a violation of a protected area, not a hunting rule, ”he said.
“This is good news for all birds and nature,” added A. Pranaitis.
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