La hunted wild boar hunting in the "non-suitable areas" and the sampling of the Lapwing and Pochard species, were the central themes of this morning's videoconference, called by the councilor Marco Remaschi. An open and constructive confrontation from which positive orientations seem to have emerged for the work of the next few days. Hunted wild boar in the non-suitable areas, in the period October-January, already regulated also in the previous hunting season, proved to be an important tool for the containment of the wild boar population, in the bushy and wooded areas, adjacent to the unsuitable area, often a refuge for the species.
In these areas, given the partial effectiveness developed by other forms of hunting, this methodology can play an important role in reducing the potential damage to agricultural crops. With a specific resolution that we will disclose as soon as it is approved and published, the current one will therefore be integrated Regional hunting calendar recently approved. This important aspect obtained a substantial “green light” from the subjects present for the comparison. The dispute over the taking of the Lapwing and Pochard species is of a different nature.
As is well known, thanks also to the timely contribution developed in recent days by our Research Department and faunal and agro-environmental research, these species have been regularly included in the list of those that can be hunted in the regional hunting calendar 2020/21. A few days ago, the Ministry of the Environment sent a letter to the Regions and Autonomous Provinces in which it requested the suspension of the hunting of these species following their inclusion in Annex A of the agreement AEWA extension. In the videoconference intervention, Marco Salvadori representing all the associations belonging to the Confederation of Tuscan Hunters, opposed with strength and wealth of arguments, the instrumentality of this request of the MATTM and the inconsistencies and gaps found in the arguments included in the letter.
Defending the choices made in the Calendar without unjustified setbacks remains a motivated position both on the level of principle and on that of the strength of data and technical-scientific arguments. There are recent rulings of the Council of State (section III of 18/10/2019) which have established that the two species can be subject to hunting. The data on the European lapwing recaptures and those relating to the incidence of hunting on this species and on the Pochard, present objective elements confirming the legitimacy of the choices made by the region. We pointed out that it would have been enough to investigate the extent of the taking of Lapwing and Pochards in Italy and compare it with the number of populations to understand that the incidence of this mortality has no influence on the overall demography of these species.
An annual harvest of between 46.000 and 56.000 heads is estimated for the lapwing, while for the pochard between 15.000 and 18.000 heads (Sorrenti et. Al., 2017). The lapwing has an estimate in Europe between 3.190.000 and 5.170.000 mature individuals, while the pochard between 1.950.000-2.250.000 individuals (IUCN, 2020). Applying the average data of the estimates (sampling and total population) we obtain for the Lapwing an incidence of sampling of 1,22%, while for the Pochard of the 0,78% . It is sufficient to compare these percentages with the published data of natural mortality which are included for the lapwing between 30 and 40% (Guide to the EU Hunting Discipline) and for the pochard between 19 and 25% for males and between 31. and 33% for females (Folliot et al., 2019) to understand that the levy in Italy is so low as to be on the order of magnitude of that allowed for hunting notwithstanding, therefore it has no influence on the conservation of species (EU Hunting Discipline Guide paragraphs 3.5.36 and 3.5.42).
Finally it was reiterated how the hunting world also contributes in Tuscany to the conservation and restoration of the habitats for these two species. On these and other technical-scientific elements already sent by us to the councilor, Marco Salvadori proposed to prepare an urgent and firm response from the Tuscany Region to the MATTM to reaffirm the legitimacy of the approved calendar by committing the Tuscany Region to coordinate with the other regional realities to reject this blatant attack on hunting and the prerogatives of the regions themselves.