The first of a series of Webinars Organized by was held on Friday morning CCT, focused on Key Concepts and on National Management Plan for Wild Turtledove, and on the possible effects / repercussions, on the next Regional hunting calendars. The aim of the meeting was to allow for a detailed study also from a technical point of view, on topics that will characterize the discussion in the institutional tables on the Tuscan Hunting Calendar in the coming weeks. A useful opportunity to reaffirm the principle that calendars must first of all respond to criteria of scientific objectivity, without giving in to the instrumental conditioning that a part of the animal-environmental world he would like to impose on the Regions by imitating hunting some species without any scientific reason.
The works were opened by Dr. Michael Sorrenti as technical-scientific coordinator of the study and research office of Federcaccia Nazionale. During the speech, Dr. Sorrenti accurately explained the revision process of the Key concepts document, held from 2018 to 2021, highlighting the differences in the approach taken by the Ministry of the Environment at the time, compared to, for example, what was done in France. in terms of participation, sharing and transparency in data analysis and in compliance with the priorities of the study sources. Contrary to the recommendations of the European Commission, in fact, in Italy no technical consultation tables have been created nor priority has been given to scientific publications in journals subjected to refereeing, but only two "exposition of positions" meetings have been promoted and subsequently they have been sent tout court i ISPRA data, which contained only internal reports and no recent scientific articles.
In France, on the other hand, a technical table was created with all the stakeholders, which analyzed all the species and shared the results that emerged 90%. The result is that today the new KC it foresees differences for Italy with respect to countries of similar latitude of 50 days in advance for the migration start date of the song thrush and between 20 and 40 days for woodcock, teal, cesena and redwing. Completely unacceptable on the part of the Ministry and ISPRA to have ignored the articles published in recognized scientific journals that Federcaccia and the hunting associations had presented at the beginning of the review process. Indeed, it has reached the point that the Commission, in the accompanying texts the new KC boards, denies ISPRA by writing verbatim that pre-nuptial migration in the Mediterranean (or Western Europe) begins in February.
This is the case with the woodcock and the pintail. Faced with this situation, today it is more than ever essential that the Italian Regions do not retreat on the closing dates for hunting provided for by law 157; in fact, we recall that in various cases the TARs have recognized scientific validity of the aforementioned studies, keeping the date of January 31 for turdidae, aquatic birds and woodcock, in the latter case also the Council of State recognized the studies with satellite telemetry and confirmed the closure on January 20. A cohesive commitment of all the Regions is therefore necessary through the State Regions Conference to change the Italian positions and put pressure on the MITE to adapt the KC to scientific evidence, harmonizing the data with the Mediterranean States, an objective hoped for by the Commission as well as by the logic. Dr. Sorrenti then dealt with the very recent issue of the approval of National Management Plan for wild turtledove, which took place on 2 March in the State Regions Conference.
A very positive note, considering that last season the TAR suspended the turtle dove hunt precisely because of the absence of the National Plan; However work is needed from now on to achieve the environmental improvements useful to the species, the main objective of the Plan, is to establish a fast and reliable reporting system for the sampling carried out, which cannot be that of the data collection of hunting cards. Instead, a data collection method will have to be implemented with specific cards for the turtle dove, or through the use of smartphone applications. An important part of the Plan is the inclusion, on the proposal of the Regions shared by us, of the Technical table for the application of the Plan, in which the representatives of the Regions and the stakeholders are present, therefore also the technicians of the hunting world.
Dr. Riccardo Burresi, representing the Tuscany Region during his significant speech, reiterated the position of absolute objectivity, on the part of the Region, towards the application, in relation to times and huntable species, of criteria based on European guidelines and scientific data, and not on preconceptions and opinions that too many times in our country, have influenced the discussion on regional hunting calendars.
A prerequisite of extreme importance for us hunters, aimed at developing a work of comparison between hunting associations and competent institutions, aimed at preparing a hunting calendar based on strong technical-scientific arguments, respectful of the role and competences of the Regions, the result of a work that will have to involve the regional departments for agriculture and hunting and not only for the environment, in close consultation with the MIPAF. The meeting therefore laid the foundations for the work to be carried out in the next weeks on which we will be able to represent the inevitable developments that will arise to hunters (source: Hunting Federation).