Possibility to Determine the Necessary Length of WRC Survey Routes Based on the Area of Hunting Grounds

Article 36 of the Federal Law on Hunting and Conservation of Hunting Resources as of July 24, 2009, no. 209-FZ (in the edition of the Federal Law as of December 22, 2020, no. 455-FL) stipulates that a census of hunted animals, with respect to which the limit and quota of their extraction are established in accordance with the above Federal Law, is carried out on the basis of scientifically substantiated methods. The methodology of accounting for the number of hunting resources by the method of a winter route census, which was approved by the order of the FSBI “Federal Research Center for Hunting” as of November 14, 2022, no. 74, is currently recommended by the authorized federal executive body and posted on the Internet information and telecommunication network on the official website of the authorized federal executive body. One of the main distinctions of the mentioned methodology is the algorithm for determining the minimum necessary total length of census routes from the total area of hunting grounds located within the boundaries of the relevant hunting estates. However, in the open press there are no data on the scientific studies conducted justifying such an approach to determining the necessary length of survey routes. This was the basis for the present study. Using the example of moose censuses for some hunting estates of Saratov oblast, the possibility of objective determination of the minimum necessary total length of survey routes depending on the total area of hunting grounds located within the boundaries of these estates was checked. The results of this study showed that such an approach in planning the volume of a survey work is fundamentally flawed and cannot be considered scientifically justified, and since it takes the central place in the considered methodology of accounting for the number of hunting resources by the method of a winter route census, the latter is scientifically unjustified. Consequently, its placement in the Internet information and telecommunication network on the official website of the authorized federal executive body contradicts the current legislation of the Russian Federation in the field of hunting and conservation of hunting resources.