We are not in this continuous punitive trickle perpetrated by the Emilia Romagna region to the detriment of hunting world. This year we had received the hypothesis of a proposed hunting calendar identical to the previous year. But, surprise of the surprises, and without first due consultation, it is served to us initially an absurdly restrictive and penalizing calendar and then mitigate it with some tweaks. All this is not supported by scientific data and with arguments that are at least questionable. The role, repeatedly reiterated, played by hunters in maintenance of wetlands, in research on both migrations and killing, in the rescue of animals as in the Valle della Canna, deserves more respect and consideration.
Today more than ever, as stated by Wetlands International, coordinating body of winter waterfowl censuses in collaboration with universities from all over the world, wetlands must be maintained and managed because protection alone is ineffective. For this the role of the hunter becomes central and fundamental and is recognized by ISPRA itself. The exasperated "protectionism", "animalism" or more generally "comitism" (as some have defined it) certainly does not lead to any results or worse still, creates further problems for both the environment and the fauna. Now we ask ourselves, because the Region did not ask Ispra's opinion on the common brunette and on the fighter when these two species are huntable for the same AEWA agreement and instead would ban the pochard and lapwing?
Does the AEWA agreement therefore only apply when it says to suspend hunting and no longer applies to species that it considers huntable? The same European Commission did not ask for a ban on hunting and, therefore, they are species that can certainly be immediately included in the Calendar, with possible right limits on collection. Different is the speech of the pochard and the lapwing for which a management plan is required to be able to hunt them. We have been waiting for these plans for three years and now we know that it is ready for the pochard, but if it is not discussed and approved by the State Regions conference, it is as if it does not exist. Who blocks this procedure and why? For the lapwing, however, the plan is not even in ISPRA draft and this is clearly a guilty delay in preventing its withdrawal.
But if we hunted in the Emilia-Romagna Region both the pochard and the lapwing for two years, even in the absence of a management plan, what happened this year? There is no risk of European infringement, but at the most of appeals to the Regional Administrative Court. So must we draw up the calendars on the basis of the threats of appeals? Views the negligence of ISPRA and MITE, we ask the Emilia-Romagna Region to draw up a regional management plan for the lapwing, recalling that the decision of the TAR Basilicata n. 685/2021 has exactly indicated the preliminary drafting of a regional plan as a solution for the huntable species.
Federcaccia is as always available to collaborate with the Region in this direction. With regard to the turdidae, in particular sassello and cesena, we certainly cannot accept further restrictions on withdrawal periods also because in Italy we already have a shorter calendar than in neighboring countries (France, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Greece, and others.), in fact, even for these species there are data available that allow us to deviate from national Key concepts and, therefore, we ask that last year's closing dates be maintained. It is no longer our intention to supinely accept that every year a species must be sacrificed, a period of withdrawal in disregard of deep-rooted traditions of hunting ethics to be sacrificed on the altar of the so-called "environmentalism" and political compromise. In light of the above briefly, we ask:
1) Sassello, Cesena and Germano closing on 30/01;
2) Drafting at a regional level of a management plan for the Lapwing;
3) That the Region solicits Mite and Ispra for the approval of the management plan of the Pochard for the hunting year 2022/2023;
4) That the Region immediately requests Ispra's opinion for the Common Tufted Duck and Fighter for the upcoming season 2022/2023 in order to integrate the hunting calendar with the two species (Filippo Para - ACMA RAVENNA and Dante Gianstefani FIdC RAVENNA).