Question 8500 — hunting and fishing

Summary

Mr. Pascal Markowsky draws the attention of the Minister of Ecological Transition, Biodiversity, Forests, Sea and Fisheries to the persistent administrative burdens which hinder the promotion of French venison, an important lever for food sovereignty and territorial development. On November 15, 2021, the General Council for Food, Agriculture and Rural Spaces (CGAAER) published a report entitled “Valorisation of venison: towards a sustainable food sector”, emphasizing that game constitutes a local, healthy and sustainable food resource, conducive to the development of short circuits and the fight against food waste. This report notably recommended promoting these circuits through a national experiment. However, we had to wait until the 2024-2025 hunting season for a first experiment to be undertaken by the Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty, with the assistance of the National Hunters Federation (FNC). Fifteen associations were initially expected to participate in this system. However, due to specifications considered particularly complex, only one structure was able to carry out the process. Despite this observation of failure, the General Directorate of Food (DGAL) published in May 2025 a new instruction for the 2025-2026 season, further burdening the applicable regulatory framework. Such complexity risks further discouraging those involved in the field and compromising the initial objectives of relocation and accessibility of venison. It appears paradoxical that, in a context where administrative simplification is constantly proclaimed as a priority objective of the Government, the Initiatives aimed at promoting the development of a sustainable food resource come up against ever-increasing procedural constraints. This situation is all the more worrying as 70% of game consumed in France currently comes from New Zealand and Eastern Europe, even though the French territory offers a precious resource, resulting from reasoned and sustainable management. The massive recourse to imports contributes to weakening the local hunting economy and disconnecting the consumer from the origin of the products. In departments such as Charente-Maritime and more broadly in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, where hunting represents an important activity - Nouvelle-Aquitaine has around 200,000 active hunters according to the National Federation of Hunters (source: FNC, 2024 activity report) - venison is an asset major economic and environmental impact. The hunting sector plays an essential role in the sustainable management of territories and its potential for contributing to local food sovereignty remains underexploited today due to inadequate bureaucratic constraints. While short circuits and the relocation of power supply are among the priorities displayed by the public authorities, the current situation is detrimental to valorization of thousands of tons of venison produced each year in France. On a national scale, this potential is estimated at nearly 25,000 tonnes per season (source: ONCFS, study on venison 2023), a significant part of which remains unmarketed or poorly valued, in particular due to the administrative constraints weighing on direct distribution circuits. Thus, he asks him what concrete measures the The Government intends to take steps to ease the regulatory constraints weighing on the valorization of venison in short circuits from the 2025-2026 hunting season. He also asks what commitments the Government is prepared to make in order to guarantee that future instructions from the DGAL reconcile health requirements and effective accessibility for those in the field. The announcement of a future national tool (Zacharie) cannot justify the current freezing of field initiatives. It is imperative that the existing momentum can be translated now into flexible experiments, so that innovation continues without waiting for the full implementation of the national system. Finally, he asks him to specify the reasons why the requests for temporary exemption, strictly limited in time and intended for testing in the field digital tools facilitating traceability, health compliance and local promotion of game, receive no favorable response from the administration.

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