The 10-year hunting moratorium expires/ Activity resumes with new rules and fines of up to 1.3 million AL

Since August, an important change has come into force in Albania’s hunting legislation, following the expiration of the 10-year moratorium that banned this activity nationwide. With the end of the moratorium, hunting is once again legal, but only in designated areas and under new legal conditions.

The Ministry of Tourism and Environment has put forward for public consultation a new draft law “On Hunting,” which introduces a series of measures for regulating and managing this activity, aiming to preserve ecological balance and increase wild fauna populations.

According to the draft law, hunting areas may be granted to private entities through a competitive process for no less than 10 years. The reasoning behind this timeframe, experts say, is that preparing game takes at least 5 years. The entity awarded the rights will also be responsible for managing the area.

However, environmental expert Aleksandër Trajçe, Executive Director of PPNEA, stated that the new draft law does not bring significant changes compared to previous initiatives. According to him, the main problem remains the lack of reliable data on the effects the decade-long moratorium had on the protection or growth of wildlife.

“KORÇA BOOM”