Conservation and hunting
Administrative and civil organisations responsible for large carnivores.
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has overall responsibility for issues related to large carnivore populations in Finland. The Ministry controls the activities of the Finninsh Wiladlife Agency and the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute through legislation, regulations and the setting of official objectives. The Ministry maintains overall control over the numbers of permits issued annually by the game management districts for the hunting of large carnivores.
The Finnish Wildlife Agency is responsible for the management of large carnivore populations, and the provision of training and guidance related to hunting. The magazine Metsästäjä is published by the organisation six times a year, and sent to all registered hunters who have paid the game management fee. The Finnish Wildlife Agency grants hunting permits according to the regulations and quotas set by Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. Each local game management association has a large carnivore contact network, through which individual hunters and other contacts regularly report observations of large carnivores to the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.
The Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute reports annually on trends in large carnivore populations to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The Institute’s estimates of carnivore populations are primarily based on field observations submitted on a voluntary basis by the local large carnivore contact networks, whose members also include reindeer-herders, border guards and Metsähallitus’s field staff.
Metsähallitus fully observes official rules, principles and guidelines related to the regulation of large carnivore populations in Finland. Metsähallitus participates in the management of large carnivore populations in State-owned lands, in order to help promote the conservation and monitoring of these animals. This work may however also include facilitating the hunting of large carnivores, within strict official regulations and guidelines, and the supervision of such hunting in State-owned lands. Metsähallitus has also granted permits for professional photographers to capture carnivores on film, and for local nature tourism firms to organise bear-watching trips in commercially managed State-owned forests in Kainuu and other parts of Eastern Finland near the Russian border.
The Ministry of the Environment participates in the organisation of administrative controls related to large carnivores through the implementation of the Nature Conservation Act and EU legislation. The Ministry of the Environment also supervises the monitoring of wild animal populations under the Nature Conservation Decree in order to assess their conservation status. Conservation policies aim to guarantee that wild animal populations have a favourable conservation status, as defined in EU legislation. Official policy decisions related to large carnivores are made under the Hunting Act, however, which falls within the administrative sphere of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.
The Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute reports annually on trends in large carnivore populations to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The Institute’s estimates of carnivore populations are primarily based on field observations submitted on a voluntary basis by the local large carnivore contact networks, whose members also include reindeer-herders, border guards and Metsähallitus’s field staff.
Metsähallitus fully observes official rules, principles and guidelines related to the regulation of large carnivore populations in Finland. Metsähallitus participates in the management of large carnivore populations in State-owned lands, in order to help promote the conservation and monitoring of these animals. This work may however also include facilitating the hunting of large carnivores, within strict official regulations and guidelines, and the supervision of such hunting in State-owned lands. Metsähallitus has also granted permits for professional photographers to capture carnivores on film, and for local nature tourism firms to organise bear-watching trips in commercially managed State-owned forests in Kainuu and other parts of Eastern Finland near the Russian border.
The Ministry of the Environment participates in the organisation of administrative controls related to large carnivores through the implementation of the Nature Conservation Act and EU legislation. The Ministry of the Environment also supervises the monitoring of wild animal populations under the Nature Conservation Decree in order to assess their conservation status. Conservation policies aim to guarantee that wild animal populations have a favourable conservation status, as defined in EU legislation. Official policy decisions related to large carnivores are made under the Hunting Act, however, which falls within the administrative sphere of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.