Regulation relevant to alien species - Poland (PL)

Chapter 3, Hunting management Article 8.3.2 - Hunting management is carried out on the basis of long-term plans on game animals breeding which should respect the best management of game animals’ populations and forest protection from harms that the game animals can cause. Article 13 obliges tenants and managers of forests to feed animals when they have insufficient natural feeding supplies or if the feeding can significantly limit the harm that game animals can cause in crops and forest management.

Outlines principles for the conservation, protection and management of forests. Principles include maintaining the biodiversity of forests and conservation of their genetic resources through specific forest management plans set out for each individual forest. According to the Article 13 of the Forestry Act, owners of forests have to maintain them and secure their continuous use. Forests owners have the responsibility to detect and prevent invasions of harmful species when possible, and to eradicate harmful species if they become invasive. When invasive species are detected, the government representative on the district level establishes the obligations of private forest owners. If a harmful organism threatens the durability of a state forest, the forest inspector executes protection means. According to Article 9 §1.2, in order to ensure forest protection, forest owners must prevent, detect and eradicate excessively appearing and spreading harmful organisms.

Art. 3 - Permission is required for introduction, as part of restocking, of foreign species of fish. Introduction of foreign species of fish which is listed in the register of species considered as non-native (defined according to Article 3f, see next paragraph), does not require a permission. (...) Ministry responsible for fishing defines condition of transfer for restocking of fish species into non-native area. (...) If negative impacts on the environment of introduction of fish species which does not require the permission have been observed, Ministry responsible for fishing can prohibit introduction/transfer of these fish species or define actions to eliminate negative effects. The purpose is to preserve biodiversity. Art. 3c: The Ministry can also change or withdraw the permission if negative effects on the environment or on other fish populations have been observed. Art. 3d: If there is no negative effect on the environment or other fish populations, the permission can be extended in time without assessing the environmental risk.

Art. 3f - Ministry responsible for fishing defines through a regulation a list of non-native fish species and conditions of introduction of species which do not require permission. The purpose is to preserve biodiversity and prevent from negative effects of foreign species introduction. A national register of applications for non-native fish species is available from the Ministry.

Art. 3i - Introduction of foreign species of fish which requires permission without the permission or against conditions defined in permission is prohibited.

Art 2a - Preserving and rebuilding of fish stock, except species covered by Act on nature conservation, is ensured by rational management of resources such as actions to restore resources and relations between their elements, according to sustainable development principles.

Art. 4b - Restocking cannot cause reduction or loss of biodiversity in live water stock.

Article 29, §1 - Breeding fish or other sea organisms or restocking in marine areas requires special permission from the Ministry responsible for fishing.

Article 29, §5 - Permission is rejected if planned activity would threaten balance of marine environment.

Article 30 - Resource preservation and fish restocking is made as part of planned restocking of Polish marine area which is managed by Ministry responsible for fishing. Restocking costs are covered by state budget.

Chapter 2 treats preserving crops from harmful organisms. National Inspection of Plant and Seed Conservation controls plants and plant products to determine if harmful organisms that are especially dangerous occur on a small scale (quarantine organisms) and on a large scale (non-quarantine organisms). If the existence of a harmful organism has been observed or suspected, the National Inspector identifies the organism and its origin, assesses the possibility of spreading of harmful organisms and possibilities of elimination.

Ministry of Agriculture Regulation of 12 November 2001 on fishing, breeding condition and fishing of other organisms living in water

§ 19. 1 and § 19. 2

Article 19 specifies conditions of breeding other that fish and crayfish of foreign species living in water. Breeding of these animals should take place in buildings where water is distributed within a closed circuit, equipment distributing water prevents organisms from escaping and water in circuit is exposed to minimum level of UV radiation. Also, routes leading to the buildings should be equipped with disinfecting sluice.

National Strategy for Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity and Action Plan 2007-2013

The National Strategy recognizes the problem of “foreign species” and calls for research of invasion vectors and paths. It calls for adoption and implementation of the program of invasive species eradication. Entities threatened by invasive species should be under strict protection; the NS mentions limiting invasions of foreign species as an element of biodiversity protection, though the category of “foreign species” is not defined.

Aim no. 5 of the strategy is to protect the appearance and implementation of foreign species or native species from foreign populations, in particular those which threaten native biodiversity resources. 

Task 19 -  Elaboration and implementation of regulations for management of conflicting animal population including invasive species threatening native species.

Task 22 - Elaboration of principles and programmes preventing introduction, eliminating, restraining dissemination and controlling populations of invasive species, in particular those which highly threaten native biodiversity resources.

Task 23 - Implementation of programmes defined in task 22.

Task 24 - Elaboration and implementation of regulations for releasing native species from foreign populations into the environment.

Country Environmental policy 2007-2010 considering 2011-2014 perspective (December 2006)

Chapter 4 - Natural heritage conservation, 4.1.3 Action plan for 2007-2010, action 15: Implementation of regulations on preventing introduction of alien species that can threaten integrity of ecosystems and habitats and/or be a threat for native species

Strategy and action plan 2006-2013 for conservation of wetlands

The transformation of riverbeds and water pollution results in the disappearance of species of migrating fish, including salmonidae, which lose the possibility to close their full lifecycle. Many of these species disappeared also from the Baltic Sea. For 116 fish species in Poland, 23 are foreign species. One of the serious menaces for the fish fauna is introduction of foreign species as grass carp, silver carp, or massive stocking which cause s disappearance of native herbivorious fish species. Invasions of foreign species such as Orconectes limosus, signal crayfish, stone moroko and brown bullhead cause the disappearance of species from the water fauna. For example, the European crayfish probably disappeared completely; and in the Baltic Sea native species of flatfish have been eliminated by introduced invasive round goby.