Landowner’s H unting R ights in Latvia

1. Landowner’s Hunting Rights in Latvia Arnis Muiznieks Latvian Forest Owner`s Association, 16.10.2009.

2. Contents of the presentation:General StatisticsHunting Rights in LatviaOrganization of Hunting in Latvia Summary Photo: Linda Dombrovska

3. General statistics • Land area: 64 600 km² • Population: 2,32 million Source: Mnistry of Agriculture

4. Most of the farmlands are privately owned. General statistics Almost half of forest lands belong to private forest owners Forest Area by Ownership

5. General statisticsAround 150 thousand private forest owners. Average size of forest property 7,5 haAround 22 thousand active huntersGame animals – 45 mammal and bird species1319 hunting areasregistered in 2008

6. Hunting RightsHierarchy of the legal acts applying to hunting:Civil LAW- the fundamental law of the civil relations in Latvia The Law on Hunting – fundamental law setting provisions for hunting in Latvia Regulations on Hunting – a more detailed description of hunting and utilisation of hunting weapons

7. Hunting RightsCivil LawOn the ownership of the wild animals: Wild animal is unowned item.How do wild animals become property of somebody? Wild animals that are in their natural wild state become the property of the one who has caught or killed them if the law does not provide otherwise.

8. Hunting RightsCivil LawOn hunting rights:Land owner has the rights to prohibit any other person to catch or hunt animals on his/her property, and if this right is violated the owner has rights to claim compensation. Hunting rights and application of these rights are described in the Law on Hunting.

9. Hunting RightsHunting Law provide:Hunting rights are rights of the land owner to hunt on his/her property in compliance with the Law on Hunting and the respective regulations. The land owner can use the hunting rights him/herself or lease it to other person.The user of hunting rights is responsible for the damage caused by game animals if the contract on leasing the hunting rights does not provide otherwise.

10. Hunting RightsRegulations on Hunting provide:Do not contain regulations on hunting rights any more. Define – game species, hunting terms for species. Photo: Linda Dombrovska

11. Organisation of HuntingPerson that owns hunting rights (land owner or person who has leased hunting rights) registers a hunting site with the State Forest Service.In general the area of the hunting site is not limited. However if it is planned to hunt limited game animals then the provisions are the following:

12. Organisation of Hunting: • Minimum size of the hunting area for limited game is set as follows: • - For roe deer – no less than 200 ha of woodlands and farmlands • - For wild boar and red deer hinds and calves – no less than 1000 ha of woodlands • - For red deer stags – no less than 2000 ha of woodlands • - For moose – no less than 2500 ha of woodlands

13. Organisation of Hunting: • What does limited game animals mean?: • The species for which the SFS set the maximum allowable bag for the national/regional level (number of heads that can be taken) are the limited game animals. • The limited games are: moose, red deer, roe deer, wild boar, European beaver, European lynx, wolf, black grouse and capercaillie.

14. Organisation of Hunting: • It means that the land owner or the person leasing the huting rights can hunt the non-limited game animals without limits within particular hunting site. Before hunting a hunter has to inform SFS about hunting (this provision may be canceled soon). • For each hunting site there is a bag set for the limited game animals. The user of the hunting rights has to buy a licence from the state for hunting the limited game animals as well as he/she has to inform SFS about hunting. Photo: Linda Dombrovska

15. Organisation of Hunting: • Wild boar (Sus scrofa)– • population, bag limit, actual bag Photo: Linda Dombrovska Source: State Forest Service

16. Organisation of Hunting: Moose (Alces alces) – population, bag limit, actual bag Source: State Forest Service

17. Organisation of Hunting:Red deer(Cervus elaphus) – population, bag limit, actual bag Source: State Forest Service

18. Organisation of Hunting: Roe deer(Capreolus capreolus) -population, bag limit, actual bag Source: State Forest Service

19. Bag limit for other game animals:Wolf (Canis lupus)– 150-200 individualsLynx(Lynx lynx) – around 90 individualsPopulation size:Beaver(Castor fiber) population over 150 000 Numbers of red fox(Vulpes vulpes) and raccoon-dog(Nyctereutes procyonoides) have increased Photo: Linda Dombrovska

20. Summary • In Latvia the land owner can hunt him/herself or lease the hunting rights to someone else. Land owner may prohibit to hunt on his/her property at all. • If the lease contract does not provide otherwise, the user of the hunting rights is responsible for the damage caused by wild animals. • In order to hunt on a particular site the land owner or user of the hunting rights has to register the area as a hunting site with the SFS and submit the hunting site plan. • For some of the limited game animal species there is a minimum area of the hunting site defined. • Hunting in Latvia is mostly organised by hunting clubs that have lease contracts with land owners on using hunting rights.

21. Thank you for the attention! Photo: Linda Dombrovska Latvian Forest Owner`s Association info@mezaipasnieki.lv