Florentine meeting
The meeting promoted by the regional President Marco Salvadori to comment with all the provincial managers and representatives of the ATC of Federcaccia Toscana-UCT on the final analysis of the text of the new Regional Hunting and Wildlife Plan recently approved by the Tuscan Regional Council has just concluded in Florence.
The Association's regional branch conducted a thorough investigation that highlighted, point by point, the main critical issues contained in the new text and the serious consequences that many of its new provisions could have on hunting, public wildlife management, and the entire Tuscan hunting system.
From a methodological perspective, Federcaccia Toscana-UCT reiterated its strong opposition to a process that, after months of silence and internal work within the regional offices on the observations submitted by NURV, associations, and various interested parties, never included a genuine dialogue with the hunting community.
Despite the Association's repeated requests for dialogue to avoid a profound overhaul of the text adopted by the Regional Council, it has never been possible to preemptively understand either the technical or political orientations that would have led to the Plan's current formulation.
The result, according to Federcaccia Toscana-UCT, is a text heavily influenced by animal rights and environmentalist pressures and the positions of the Five Star Movement—an assessment further confirmed by recent public statements by Regional Councilor Irene Galletti of the Five Star Movement, as highlighted in our latest press release—as well as by pressure from the agricultural sector on the issue of ungulates and by the interests of private institutions. These political compromises have been largely to the detriment of public hunting, sustainable wildlife management, and the role of hunters.
The meeting highlighted and analyzed some of the key issues that our Association will be discussing in the coming weeks in the appropriate forums and among hunters:
ATC AND TERRITORY
The text, in the preamble to the document, weakens the role and functions of the ATCs, while strengthening the weight of the environmental component by recognizing its role of constant monitoring of the progress and implementation of the plan.
Severe hunting restrictions have been introduced on Natura 2000 sites (including SIR and pSIC), which will negatively impact over 848.000 hectares of land, equivalent to approximately 15% of the entire regional territory.
MIGRATORY HUNTING AND STALKING
The aim is to reduce the number of fixed posts (often demonized and undervalued for their undeniable role in habitat restoration and biodiversity conservation) in these areas, with restrictions on density, relocation, changes in ownership, and new permits. Over 1700 fixed posts will potentially be affected.
PROTECTED AREAS
Increases in hectares in various local and provincial areas for new protected areas.
LEAD
Many of the restrictive consequences still being discussed at the national and European levels regarding the ban and limitation of lead ammunition are anticipated. The ban on the use of such ammunition is included not only in wetlands but also in all SCI, SPA, SCI, PSic, and SIR sites. The ban is also extended to temporarily flooded areas.
BUREAUCRACY
Mandatory impact assessments for all new wildlife institutes established in Natura 2000 zones and surrounding areas.
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE INSTITUTIONS
The opportunity to encourage farmers to manage the ZRC and ZRV areas is envisaged. The role of hunters is downgraded and made secondary, despite the resources coming solely from the registration fees hunters pay to the ATCs.
The wooded area for new ZRCs is restricted to a maximum of 30%, while for AFVs, up to 50% is permitted, which can be achieved through expansion, and even 70% for Agritourism Hunting Areas. This imbalance will result in more area for ungulates in privately managed areas, resulting in greater damage to ATCs in the surrounding territory.
All private institutions were reappointed without any evaluation of their results, and the reference to the audit committee required by law was removed.
Restrictions and severe limitations apply to dog competitions in Natura 2000 Zones and SIR (National Wildlife Refuges), including public wildlife institutes. However, private institutes are given maximum flexibility, as they essentially do not have to comply with procedures imposed on the rest of the territory.
The vocational qualification levels and their binding scope for the establishment of new AFVs and AAVVs have been weakened. In practice, new AFVs and AAVVs may be established even if they conflict with the vocational qualification objectives, and therefore perhaps wherever they are required.
WILD BOAR HUNTING
The new PFVR defines as "non-suitable" any area comprising professional or non-professional agricultural land of at least 25 hectares combined, including the wooded and bushy areas that connect or surround them. This choice risks leading to widespread fragmentation of the territory through the creation of actual "white spots" outside the management system of the districts and teams operating in the suitable areas.
This is a highly impactful management approach, difficult to implement locally and strongly supported by the agricultural sector, for which every possible corrective measure proposed by the hunting community has been rejected.
Adding to the system's unstable nature is the requirement for ongoing checks and reviews of designated and non-designated areas over the next 1, 2, and 5 years. This poses a real risk of constantly changing boundaries, resulting in extremely fragmented boundaries that could lead to management chaos in defining hunting areas and selective hunting districts.
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Still on the ungulate front, the Plan introduces a strong limitation on the hunting technique in wild boar control activities within Natura 2000 sites, providing for the priority use of capture, turning, and slaughter by sight, and relegating hunting to exceptional cases and subject to further authorization procedures.
HUNTING SELECTION
No substantial corrections or changes in management strategy (including selective hunting practices) have been made to properly manage deer and address the problems associated with declining roe deer populations in some areas. No progress has been made in defining and revising the ACATER conservation areas.
HUNTING CALENDARS and LICENSES
Greater rigidity in the definition of hunting calendars (references to the Key Concepts and Migration Atlas, greater rigidity reflected in the justified deviations from ISPRA opinions on times and species.
More courses and imaginative qualifications, including those on completely unjustified grounds for hunters currently certified. The proposal to encourage additional shooting tests every two years for selective hunters and other similar measures is paradoxical.
In the coming weeks, Federcaccia Toscana-UCT will continue to study the new Plan and engage with its management team, the ATCs, the hunting community, and regional institutions. This will enable us to develop concrete and thoughtful proposals for changes, countering an approach that appears increasingly distant from modern, balanced, sustainable, and truly shared wildlife management.
Precisely because of the complexity and sensitivity of the issues that have emerged, the Association also believes it is essential to avoid any acceleration or delays that could lead to a hasty approval of the text by the Regional Council, without the necessary technical and political analysis of issues that will profoundly impact the future of wildlife management and hunting in Tuscany.
