Welsh gamebird releasing consultation – guidance and background

Q4. Do you agree that common pheasant and red-legged partridge should be added to Part 1 of Schedule 9 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 in Wales? This change would mean that releasing those species in Wales would need to be carried out under licence. Please give reasons for your views.

Answer: No.

You may then wish to make the following points:

I am concerned that this approach, to prohibit gamebird release and then licence it, is intended to restrict release and thus shooting, based on an anti-shooting agenda.

This will make any release in Wales subject to a licensing regime and that is disproportionate to the risk in the wider landscape. In England, when faced with a legal challenge on gamebird releasing, they did not take such unnecessary action. I do not agree that the information put forward justifies this proposal.

The proposal to ban the release of gamebirds is disproportionate to any perceived issue in relation to protected sites. These sites already have significant safeguards in place.

There is a lack of evidence of damage by release and if such release were to damage a protected site, existing legal measures can be implemented to stop such release.

NRW should not assume that ‘knowledge gaps’ mean there are issues and should await the findings of research which is currently underway.

There is a strong ethos of self-regulation within the shooting sector which NRW should support as an alternative to this proposal.

Background information

This proposal would mean that gamebird release would be banned and then could only take place if licences were issued.

These licences could contain any conditions which NRW choose to include now or in the future and there are limited details of what these conditions may be.

It is currently proposed to issue a general licence for most situations allowing release up to a certain figure in line with Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) guidelines). This licence would be free of charge but in other situations a specific licence would need to be applied for and in some situations this would be chargeable.

There are no guarantees that this approach will not alter in the future, e.g. a move towards only having chargeable specific licences.

Within the consultation document there is reference to ‘evidence gaps’ however, this does not mean that there is any issue with gamebird release.

Some information in the consultation document appears out of place, for instance there is a section on the voluntary transition away from lead ammunition. This inclusion, which it is noted as being outside of the scope of this consultation, could be viewed as some sort of justification for making the proposed changes to gamebird release.

Previously in England, following a legal challenge in relation to European protected sites,
the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) conducted a review of gamebird release and concluded negative effects tend to be localised and no or only minimal effects were detected beyond 500m from the point of release.

DEFRA also concluded that there is strong evidence of associated benefits for biodiversity deriving from woodland management for gamebird shooting.

To address the legal challenge, while further assessment and evidence is gathered, DEFRA opted to introduce an interim licensing regime specifically on and around European protected sites. This is subject to a sunset clause (which means this requirement ceases in 2025).

As a result, there is a light touch general licence (GL 43) approach which applies on and around (within 500 metres) of these European protected sites for a fixed period of time (until the sunset clause expires).

Further research including the impact of release on protected sites is due shortly which would help inform NRW in considering the situation around release of game.

In practice, European Protected sites also have national designations also being Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). There are also a substantial number of other areas (about 12% of Wales surface area) which are also designated as SSSIs.

This designation provides these sites with substantial legal protection, with each SSSI having a list of identified activities (which could damage the site) requiring permission – or ‘consent’ as it is known – from NRW, before that activity can take plan on the site.

Additionally, any activity both on and outside of the site which is causing damage (to the site) can be halted by the issuing of a stop notice.

As such there are already legal mechanisms in place to protect sensitive (protected) sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs).

There is also a strong ethos of voluntary best practice within the shooting sector with all major shooting organisations endorsing the Code of Good Shooting Practice, for example.