The independent Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis has rejected the government’s bill that would allow wolf hunting for population management purposes beginning about a month from now.
In a strongly worded statement on Friday — published on the government website — the independent regulatory watchdog slammed the draft proposal to amend the Hunting Act.
The bill has such significant shortcomings that it fails to meet legal requirements for legislative drafting. These require a full assessment of the impact of any legislation, which the Council says the government has not done.
The panel demands that it complete the impact assessment.
In an unusual move, the Council is submitting its statement directly to the parliamentary Agriculture and Forestry Committee because it says it was not allowed an opportunity to submit a statement to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry before the bill was handed to Parliament last week.
Earlier this month, the government approved the bill, which would eliminate the year-round protection of wolves. In future, the wolf protection and hunting season would be regulated by government decree, with regional hunting quotas set by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
Hunting could impact residential areas
According to the Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis, the proposal should provide more detail on who would specifically benefit from the proposed changes and how the proposal would affect people living in areas with large wolf populations. A previous experiment with wolf hunting for population management purposes a decade ago resulted in more wolves appearing in residential areas as packs dispersed after alpha individuals were shot.
"The current state of the wolf population and the effects of the proposed changes on the wolf population are unknown," it said on Friday, adding that many issues related to wolf hunting remain unclear in the legislation.
"For example, to what extent would wolf hunting increase? It would also be good to present some indicative estimate of how many wolves could be killed annually in the future," it said.
EU loosened directive last summer
In June, the European Council amended the Habitats Directive to change the status of wolves from "strictly protected" to "protected".
"The new status will give more flexibility to member states to manage the populations of wolves. Member states must, however, continue to ensure the wolf’s favourable conservation status," the Council said at the time.
The Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke) estimates that there were around 430 wolves in Finland last spring. That includes approximately 36 in the reindeer herding areas, which cover roughly one-third of the country.
The bill would allow the hunting of at least 65 wolves in 16 districts outside the reindeer herding areas.
The largest number of licenses would be issued in the southwestern and southeastern corners of the country.
Decisions by the seven-member Finnish Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis are not binding on the ministries. However they must be mentioned when bills are presented to Parliament, including explanations of how they have been taken into account.
The council, which was established in 2016, is part of RegWatchEurope, an umbrella organisation that focuses on legislation in the EU.
