Albania postpones the moratorium on hunting for another five years

Albania has postponed the moratorium on hunting for another five years. The Council of Ministers approved on Wednesday the bill that will extend the hunting moratorium for another five years. The purpose of this draft law is to prohibit the exercise of hunting activity, in order to improve the condition of the species of wild fauna, the object of hunting.

This draft law, which will be sent to the Parliament for approval, defines the rules that will be applied during the prohibition of hunting activities throughout the territory of the Republic of Albania.

The Minister of Tourism and Environment, Mirela Kumbaro, said that this bill is a continuation of two laws that had expired. Kumbaro emphasized that the decision to extend the moratorium by 5 years was made after seeing positive effects from the two previous laws.

According to the minister, a significant increase in the number of wild birds and a much greater awareness of the population has been found.

"The new draft law is a continuation of the two laws that had expired and is the announcement of the moratorium on hunting for the next 5 years. There were two laws before, one for 2014-2016 and another for 2016-2021 that expired last year. Finding positive effects of the measures taken, in relation to wild fauna, but especially wild birds, a significant increase in the number of wild birds and a much greater awareness of the population has been found. In 2016, in the developed census, about 60 thousand species of wild birds were found in the habitats of the Albanian ecosystem, while in 2021 we are at about 140 thousand such species. The announcement of this moratorium also significantly limits the request to be equipped with a shotgun permit. In the first years, over 800 shotguns were seized," Kumbaro said.

This is the third time that the Government of Albania requests a moratorium on hunting in the country.

The first 2-year moratorium on hunting was for the period March 2014 - March 2016. Because the moratorium had positive results in terms of the increase of fauna, including some species that were in danger of extinction, according to specialists it was necessary to continue the moratorium . Therefore, the postponement was made for 5 years, 2017-2021.

According to the draft law approved by the Government and which will be submitted for approval in the assembly, the violations of this Law, when they do not constitute a criminal offense, constitute an administrative misdemeanor and are punished as follows: When the violation is committed organized by hunting tour operators, hunters' associations or hunters' federations, the entity that organizes it is punished with a fine of 800.000 lek (more than 6.500 euros) to 1.000.000 lek (around 8.200 euros). In cases of repetition of the violation by the foreseen subjects, in addition to the fine, the removal of the hunting permit and the confiscation of the hunting weapon are imposed as additional punishment.