The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has warned blueberry pickers and purchasers that they need a permit for this, and that picking this forest fruit with ridges or other mechanical means is illegal and that fines from 2.000 to even 40.000 euros are foreseen.
A kilogram of blueberries on the market currently costs around five euros, and picking with ridges is strictly prohibited, as this permanently damages the plants and causes irreparable damage to the blueberries. Despite this, entire families have been picking blueberries in an organized manner for years, without control or warning. From 10 to 20 kilograms can be harvested per day, and in addition to the damage caused to the blueberry by metal and wooden ridges, the pickers leave piles of garbage behind on the mountains every year.
Environmentalists and NGOs welcome the Ministry's move, but note that due to long-term carelessness by authorities and uncontrolled picking, some species are on the verge of disappearing, such as lincura, and that mushrooms and blueberries are the most affected.
Blueberry picking for commercial purposes is defined by the Law on Nature Protection and the Rulebook on the closer method and conditions of collection, use and circulation of unprotected wild species of animals, plants and mushrooms that are used for commercial purposes.
In order to raise awareness of the need for proper picking of wild blueberries, and for the sake of preserving this multi-faceted plant population, the Ministry created the brochure "Plucking Wild Blueberries", which contains legal regulations for picking blueberries for commercial purposes, recommendations for pickers and buyers, as well as the consequences of unscrupulous picking using ridges.
The Ministry reminds of the legal obligation and the application of good practice related to blueberry picking, which implies exclusively manual picking of ripe blueberries and the prohibited use of ridges.
"Collection of blueberries is allowed in the optimal phase of vegetative development, i.e. in the ripening phase of the berry, provided that no mechanical means (ridges and others) are used, no uprooting or damage to underground organs is done, and at least 25 percent of the total amount of plant material is left in the collection area species, do not break, damage trees and branches of bushes and do not cause other damage to the blueberry and its habitat, collect at a distance of more than 100 meters from roads and at a distance of more than a thousand meters from waste dumps", the brochure says.
Blueberries, as stated, can be picked for commercial purposes by legal and natural persons who have a permit, issued by the Agency for Nature and Environmental Protection, and it is mandatory to keep records of the collected quantities and the quantities that are placed on the market.
Control is carried out by environmental inspectors, and fines from 2.000 to 40.000 euros are provided for non-compliance with legal provisions.
It was clarified that the consequences of negligent picking are mechanical damage to plants, reduced quality (green and unripe fruits have a low sugar content and are lighter than ripe fruit), as well as uneven quality (blueberries harvested in an illegal way are full of impurities, twigs, leaves and are not suitable for fresh use). The biggest problem is that the buds can be destroyed, which results in a significant reduction in the yield for the following year. That is why, as stated, it should be harvested only when ripe and by hand. Buyers were recommended to familiarize the pickers with the legally permitted picking method, to start buying no earlier than the time when it is ripe for picking, to buy exclusively hand-picked blueberries, which are clearly different from fruit picked by mechanical means, both in terms of quantity and quality and purity.
Mitrović: Lincura is almost non-existent in the mountains
The president of the Ecological Society "Breznica" Milorad Mitrović said that it is good that the Ministry started to control the harvesting of forest fruits, but the question is whether it will take off, because there are no trained and certified harvesters in Montenegro.
"Mechanical harvesting has escalated in recent years, during which blueberry habitats are brutally destroyed. In addition, all types of mushrooms are harvested in a completely wrong and inadequate way. In the purchase stations, they require the picker that the mushroom has a root and soil on it, and it should be cut and that part of the root left in the ground, so that a new mushroom will grow in that place. Burning forests and setting fires with the intention of 'mushrooms producing better' is another brutal destruction of nature. "Once the element of fire engulfs an area, it can take a thousand years for certain species to reappear," Mitrović said.
On the other hand, he adds, tourists who come to Montenegro due to the lack of adequate regulations and penal policies come with backpacks and ašovčići and dig lincura, gentian, i.e. sardnica, and other species that have been brought to the biological minimum and no one cares about them. admonishes.
"We also see that herbalists sell lincura at fairs and markets. Although there is a large fine for this, no one turns around. So we have almost eradicated lynching", Mitrović said.
He stated that the Ministry will have the support of the NGO sector, but that efforts should be made to put it into practice, because it is not enough just to enact laws and rules.
See more:
Download the app and follow the news
FOLLOW US ON
