Over 70,000 hunters practiced their sport over a total area of almost four million hectares, spread over 1,490 lots, during the 2022-2023 official hunting season, according to a report presented recently in Rabat at the ordinary session of the Higher Hunting Council, chaired by Agriculture Minister Mohamed Sadiki.
Around 1,250 plots of land were reserved for association hunting, while more than 172 lots were earmarked for tourist hunting, said the same source.
The hunting season was viewed as satisfactory, particularly with respect to the Gambra partridge, an emblematic game species.
The Gambra hunting season witnessed an average of 1.6 partridges bagged per hunter each hunting day.
The season also witnessed the commencement of a nationwide effort to reduce wild boar populations in multiple areas within the Kingdom. As of June 15th, 537 successful tallies had been registered in 360 areas around the country this year.
The total territory officially zoned as “hunting” also provides an economic windfall estimated at 1 billion dirhams per hunting season, with an average annual investment by hunting permit holders estimated at 60 million MAD.
This sector contributes to the development and improvement of State revenues by enabling the creation of 10,000 to 15,000 hunting days per year, job creation in rural areas, and the marketing of local products.
Incidentally, it has also been decided that the next hunting season will open on October 1, 2023 for all types of game–with the exception of turtle doves–which will open on July 27, 2024.