What Changes in Turtle Hunting - The Harvest Recording Steps

The Hunting and Fauna Service informs the hunters that during the upcoming hunting season, the hunting of the turtledoves will be allowed under specific terms and conditions, which are listed below:

1. The maximum yield (hen), for a hunter, in a hunting trip will be the three (3) turtledoves.
2. The hunter, for every trout that hunts, should record it in the application for smart phones (smart phones application) Artemis Cy (Android & IOS). Registration is mandatory under the relevant legislation and failure to register is punishable by an out-of-court fine of € 100.
3. The harvest can be recorded at the point named "AHM Regulation" that appears on the home page of the application (you see icons at the end of the announcement). It is noted that the hunting of turtledoves can also be recorded when the application is offline.
4. The harvest limit of turtles per hunter for the whole period, which will be allowed to hunt turtles, will be twelve (12) turtles.
5. The hunting season of turtledoves will start on 22/8/2021 and will end on 30/9/2021 unless the harvest limit set for the Republic of Cyprus which is 15.756 turtledoves is reached earlier, a number which has been calculated based on what required by the European Commission (50% of the average yield for the years 2013 - 2018).

The above restrictions were set by the European Commission as a necessary condition to allow the hunting of turtles in Cyprus since the population of this species has decreased significantly in recent years, globally although the legal practice of hunting is not included. the reasons for the decline of the species population at European level.

The main reasons for the decline of the species, according to the Action Plan prepared by the EU, are the intensification of agriculture, the implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in the EU, as well as the destruction and degradation of breeding and wintering habitats. τρυγονίων.

The reasons on which the argument of the Cypriot authorities was based to allow the hunting of turtledoves in Cyprus was based on the following:

1. In the central-eastern migration corridor of these species (a corridor to which Cyprus also belongs), the overall population trends are much more stable.
2. The harvest of turtledoves in Cyprus ranges from 25.000 to 60.000 birds (including young and adult birds) which is considered relatively small compared to the harvest of other countries.
3. In Cyprus a very large part of the habitats are prohibited hunting areas.
4. The hunting of turtledoves is allowed only in limited hunting areas and only for a limited number of hunting excursions while during the migration period the area of ​​the allowed hunting areas for the turtle dove does not exceed 15% of the allowed hunting areas of the whole country.
5. In most areas where the species is used to breeding, especially in Paphos District, hunting is not allowed during the summer hunting season.

Taking into account all the above and after discussions with the competent bodies, the European Commission agreed that the following conditions are met in order to allow the hunting of the turtledove in Cyprus:

i. Implement Adaptive Harvest Management

ii. Limit the annual harvest of the turtle to 50% of the average harvest for the years 2013 - 2018.

iii. Obligation of hunters to report the harvest of each turtle.

iv. Intensify the habitat improvement program.

v. To have continuous monitoring of the condition of the species.

This year's hunting season for the turtle will be evaluated by the EU and if the conditions set are not met then it is very likely that during the next hunting season the hunting of the turtle will not be allowed. This means that all of us will have to literally apply all the conditions that have been set so that the hunting of the turtledove will be allowed in the years to come.

Yield recording steps

step 1

step 2

step 3

step 4

step 5

step 6