The president of the PP of Asturias, Álvaro Queipo, announced this Saturday in Cangas del Narcea that, if he becomes president of the Principality, he will abolish the collection of the fee for hunting licenses and will exempt hunting grounds from paying the hunting fee. "The rural environment needs hunters as a tool to achieve a space where they can live, to control wildlife, to care for our mountains, our environment," he argued.
Queipo, accompanied by the popular mayor of Cangas del Narcea, José Luis Fontaniella, toured the hunting, fishing, and nature fair (Narcenatur). During the visit, he defended that hunting is an "absolutely essential" activity in Asturias and reproached the regional Executive for having "completely abandoned" this area. "It does not consider it important, and, therefore, we have seen how in the last 15 years hunting licenses in Asturias have been halved, which is absolutely worrying," explained Queipo.
The popular leader also used the situation of salmon as an example of the consequences of these policies: "Now we worry about salmon when salmon is already in a critical situation. Are we also going to worry about how our mountains and the number of hunters we have will be when they are in a critical situation, or are we going to do something before to prevent us from reaching that situation? The hunting sector must be placed in the position it deserves."
In this context, he announced that he will promote a reform of the Hunting law in collaboration with the sector itself, "so that hunting occupies the space it deserves, to support hunters and to dignify this sporting activity that also has a significant impact on wildlife control and, of course, on the sustainability of our mountains; there are initiatives being carried out in other autonomous communities that would be very helpful."
Regarding the actions of the current regional Executive, he was blunt: "I have no hope that this regional Government will do it, but we have to put the ideas on the table in case they want to adopt them, and if not, we will do it ourselves when we come to Government in a year," he stressed.
Likewise, Queipo insisted on the need to simplify administrative procedures, considering the excessive paperwork burden that hunting grounds bear to carry out their work normally.
The president of the PP also took the opportunity to congratulate José Luis Fontaniella and his team for the recovery of Narcenatur "and for making it shine, more than ever, with a magnificent response from everyone, and that means that the rural environment is alive".