During the meeting of March 18 last of the Working Group on Birds in Decline, the European Commission has set out its orientation to extend the ban on turtle dove hunting also in the central-eastern area, as well as keeping it in the western area. FACE expressed its concerns and reasons and the Commission stated that they will be made present at the meeting of NADEG Committee of 6 April.
The Control Room of the Hunting Associations is about to send a request to MILD asking to reject this Commission proposal at the NADEG meeting, given that the National Management Plan and the scientific data of the western area show that the population can stabilize and start an increase even with intense hunting.
The population trend of the central-eastern area is not completely reliable due to less accurate monitoring, and the decline is denied, for example, by a work conducted in Greece which demonstrates stability over the period 2004-05-2019-20. Unfortunately this study was not considered by the Commission and by group of ornithologists examining the data. There is a little objective approach on the part of the Commission and only the authorities of the Member States can stop this drift.