The first meeting of the EU task force on the recovery of declining birds. The main point on the agenda was the turtledove, with updates on population trends and recommendations for the 2022 hunting season. The conclusions of this task force meeting were then discussed at the European Commission (EC) Nature Directives Expert Group (NADEG) on 6 April 2022. As a reminder, the recommendations of the EC for 2021 were to stop hunting of the species in the western area (France, Spain, Portugal, Liguria and Piedmont for Italy) and to decrease the levy by 50% in that central-eastern (Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, the remaining Italian regions, Malta, Romania and Cyprus).
They were also required measures in habitat management, research and implementation systems, see FACE's last year report for more information. Harvesting recommendations were well implemented in 2021, with hunting completely suspended in the western range and an overall reduction of around 70% in the central-eastern area, with some Member States implementing reductions up to 95%, demonstrating that a rapid and effective response from the hunting community is possible. It has also been shown that environmental improvements have taken place to a much greater extent in the states where the species is huntable. For Italy, the approval of the National Management Plan of the species was appreciated.
The meeting was provided with the most recent population size from the Common Bird Monitoring System (PECBMS) up to 2020, and a revised version of the population model was presented, as well as the inclusion of population trajectory estimates for both ranges, as requested by FACE last year. These models show that there is room for a small harvest in both areas and the PECBMS update confirms the stability of the western population since 2013, but the decline of the central-eastern one as indicated last year, with stability since 2015. to 2020. This led to the CE and his consultants to recommend a moratorium on hunting the species in the central-eastern area.
However, during the NADEG meeting on 6 April, several Member States of the central-eastern area expressed their preference to continue with the previous levy reductions and to allow more time for the collection of demographics on turtledove, which is essential for better knowledge and management of the population. We thank the Italian Ministry for Ecological Transition, which shared this position suggested several times also by the writing associations, enhancing the recently approved management plan. Fortunately, monitoring programs are now in place in several countries, including Italy, and the breeding period is starting (Federcaccia, Enalcaccia, AnuuMigratoristi, National Free Hunting Association, Italcaccia, CNCN - National Nature Hunt Committee).