Asks the Government to maintain a comprehensive wildlife management

mooseMoose. Photo: NJFF

Asks the Government to maintain a comprehensive wildlife management

The Government wants to move the management of harvestable wildlife to the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, while the management of the other game species and nature management in general will still be in the Ministry of Climate and Environment. Norway’s Hunting and Fisheries Association (NJFF) believes this is a very bad solution and calls on the Government to halt the plans.

 

– You can not manage wildlife without knowledge of the habitats and ecosystems of the species. Integral management is a prerequisite and a strength for managing our wildlife in a good and sustainable way in a long-term perspective so that they produce a harvestable surplus, says Secretary General of Norway’s Hunting and Fisheries Association, Espen Søilen.

– This is the surplus that provides the basis for our hunting and fishing traditions and brings about 200,000 hunters into nature to harvest short-traveled, organic game every year. If we no longer see things in context, we get both poorer and more expensive management. – This is the opposite of simplification, says Søilien, who asks the Government to halt the planned transfer immediately.

Important with comprehensive management

NJFF considers it unreasonable that the management of the harvestable game species will be in a different ministry than in the ministry which will manage the other species and natural resources in general.

– For NJFF it is important that we still have a species management based on managing the habitats of the species, and the ecosystems they are part of in a comprehensive way, says Sørlien, who requests the Government to halt the planned transfer immediately.

Everything is related to all else

Norway’s Hunting and Fishing Federation does not support the Government’s decision and is wondering about the proposal.

– A breakdown of the management of our wildlife between two ministries, based on the criterion whether they are harvestable or not, is to reverse this development and to take species out of context. We also want the management of species to change between two ministries, says Espen Søilen, and reminds us that everything is connected with all else.

Fears skills deteriorate

NJFF receives support from the umbrella organization, Norwegian Outdoors, which believes that the proposal will cause us to become more vulnerable to climate and other influences because one will not see the management under one.

The organization representing 16 Norwegian outdoor life organizations, with nearly one million members, fears that the move will lead to weakening of management skills.

– Development and maintenance of specialist skills are important factors for successful management. The opposite is a model in which the species is listed in the list of hunting species, which will determine which part of the management apparatus is responsible for managment. – To split the administrative responsibility and, in extreme consequence, move it back and forth between different ministries, is not a solution we support, says Secretary General of Norwegian Outdoor Life, Lasse Heimdal.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today