This morning, in videoconferencing mode, the first discussion table was held between the Tuscany Region and the hunting organizations, regarding the drafting of the Hunting Calendar 2021/2022. A first opportunity for in-depth analysis aimed at verifying the structure and contents of this important and awaited regulatory act and consequently of its approval times. Following the first assessments made by the associations belonging to the Confederation of Tuscan Hunters, also given the very short time frame for an adequate study of the material sent, the President Marco Salvadori was able to present the main observations of merit at the table.
Strong was the call to speed up the approval times by the regional council of the new calendar considered the need to provide a clear signal of legal certainty to Tuscan hunters, also given the positive evolution on the slowdown in health prescriptions and the restrictive constraints linked to the Covid-19 pandemic. On the merits, the positions expressed focused on specific arguments, while reiterating a substantial positive opinion on the proposal which in the fundamental parts, maintains the principles of the previous drafts. In fact, Tuscany has been able to demonstrate in recent years the ability to ensure the correct balance on timing, huntable species and organization of hunting, allowing the achievement of one of the best results at national level. That said, the main critical issues raised focused on the following aspects:
a) Strong opposition to the proposal contained in the text, concerning the shift of the general opening date from the third to the fourth Sunday of September (26 September). A proposal to be rejected, detrimental to the rights of hunter-taxpayers on which we ask for a specific corrective commitment to councilor Saccardi, so that the general opening date of 19 September is re-established.
b) As regards the taking of the species Lark, it is required to maintain the provisions of the previous calendar and more specifically the maintenance of the annual game bag limit of 100 head for "specialist" hunters with the limit of 20 per day, as required by the National Management Plan of the Skylark (Alauda arvensis) , surpassing the regional proposal of 50 head per year and 10 per day.
c) Reconfirmation of the pre-opening days and the collection of the wild dove (Streptopelia turtur) in consideration of the unitary position gained in the State-Regions Conference and the common objectives achieved in relation to the National Management Plan of the species, despite the repeated limiting position of the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
d) Careful assessment of the consequences generated by the recent sentence of the Tuscan TAR n ° 632 of 04 May 2021 of the TAR Toscano, concerning the taking of species Pochard and Lapwing pending the preparation and approval of the Pochard National Management Plan.
On these and other aspects, we will reserve the right to produce any supplementary material and further evaluations and proposals in the coming days, also following the internal consultations already started in these days.