Protests against amendments to the Hunting and Game Protection Act

16:35 Fri 22 Aug 2008 - Elitsa Grancharova

Scandalous amendments to the Hunting and Game Protection Act violate European legislation, democratic norms and create conditions for corruption practices in Bulgaria, the coalition To Sustain the Nature in Bulgaria (SNB) said in a statement.

On August 22, Sofia Press Agency announced that that Ivan Ivanov, chairperson of the hunting association Sokol-Trunkovo; Petar Gloushkov, chairperson of the hunting association Sakara-Svilengrad; and Todor Atanassov, chairperson of the hunting-fishing association Papiya-Tsarevo, would hold an August 25 news conference themed “Future protests due to scandalous amendments to the Hunting Act”.

According to SNB, the agriculture and forests committee discussed on first reading the amendments to the Hunting and Game Protection Act in a “non-transparent and high-speed process”. The second reading of the amendments is due to take place on September 10 in Parliament.

Environmentalists are against several of the amendments, the first being the proposal to extend the hunting season for water fowl by one month, until the end of February. It currently runs until the end of January. “At the end of January, mating couples start forming and most water fowl start migrating. Their being hunted during this season leads to the breaking up of couples […], which leads to the birds' considerable loss of strength in the difficult winter period and decreases their chances of survival,” SNB said.

Another concern of the environmentalists is that, if the proposed amendments are approved, the chairperson of the National Hunting Fishing Association (NHFA) will receive full rights to define the areas for the hunting associations, to register them and to present them to the State Forestry Agency. The fact that the NHFA will be the only organisation in Bulgaria to be the official partner of the State Forestry Agency to protect and manage the game, according to SNB, puts all hunting and nature-protection organisations at a disadvantage, with only one receiving favour – the NHFA.

The third problematic issue, according to SNB, was that the state hunting reserves, most of which are currently profitable and, thus, do not need public-private partnerships, would sign contracts for joint actions with juridical bodies. “Persons [who have contracts concluded for unknown reasons] would have the right to sign contracts without tender procedures and would hold the advantage, which contradicts the basic principles of the European Commission,” SNB said.

The environmentalists have also created an online petition against those changes.

The 2008 hunting season in Bulgaria opened on August 16. Among the animals that can be hunted in Bulgaria are quail, turtle-dove, wood-pigeon, woodcock and snipes; wild boar and fox.