Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000: Proposed amendment

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A decision made on 8 February 2019

Decision Reference: MD-PE-2019-0016
Decision Summary Title :	Approval to request legislative drafting to amend the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000, schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4		Date of Decision Summary:	06 February 2019
Decision Summary Author:	Principal Ecologist and Assistant Director, Growth Housing and the Environment		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:	n/a
Written Report Title :	Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000 Amendment of Schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4		Date of Written Report:	24 January 2019
Written Report Author:	Principal Ecologist and Assistant Director, Growth Housing and Environment		Written Report : Public or Exempt? (State clauses from Code of Practice booklet)	Public
Subject: Approval to request legislative drafting to amend the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000, schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4, to substitute the Grass snake (Natrix natrix) with the Barred grass snake (Natrix helvetica)
Decision(s): The Minister requested legislative drafting to amend the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000, schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4.
Reason(s) for Decision: To ensure that the correct species of Grass snake is identified as a protected wild animal in the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000.
Resource Implications: There are no financial or manpower resource implications.
Action required: Principal Legislative Drafter to be requested to draft amendments to the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000, schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4.
Signature: Deputy John Young		Position: Minister for Environment
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):

Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000: Proposed amendment

$C:\Users\whiteheadk\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.Word\GHE.PNG$ Natural Environment

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Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000

Amendment of Schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4

Purpose of the Report

The purpose of this report is to request that the Minister authorise the drafting of an Order amending Schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4 to the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000, in order to substitute the Grass snake (Natrix natrix) with the Barred grass snake (Natrix helvetica).

Background

The grass snake Natrix natrix is listed on Schedules 1 and 4 of the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000.

Modern research methods and DNA analytical techniques sometimes lead to a greater understanding of the relationships within and between species. Recent research has required a change in the taxonomy of some species which are represented locally.

A recent study (Kindler et al., 2017) of grass snakes across their wide range has resulted in the renaming of grass snakes in north-west Europe. Further research (Ward et al., 2017) has confirmed that Jersey’s grass snakes also belong to this newly named species. The species is currently described in the Law as the grass snake Natrix natrix and the naming has changed to the barred grass snake Natrix helvetica (Fritz and Kindler, 2017). In order to ensure that the correct species is identified in the Law it is proposed to amend Schedules 1 and 4 accordingly.

The proposed Conservation of Wildlife (Amendment No.) (Jersey) Order 2014 would confirm the protected status of the populations found in Jersey of the above species for the purposes of the Law.

References

Fritz, U. & Kindler, C. (2017). A very European tale – Britain still has only three snake species, but its grass snake is now assigned to another species (Natrix helvetica). Herpetological Bulletin 141, 44‒45.

Kindler, C., Chèvre, M,. Ursenbacher, S., Böhme, W., Hille, A., Jablonski, D., Vamberger, M. & Fritz, U. (2017): Hybridization patterns in two contact zones of grass snakes reveal a new Central European snake species. Scientific Reports 7, 7378.

Ward, R.J. (2017). Status and conservation of the grass snake in Jersey. PhD Thesis, University of Kent.

Recommendation

The Minister is recommended to approve the drafting of an Order amending Schedules 1 (Part 1) and 4 to the Conservation of Wildlife (Jersey) Law 2000

Written by: Principal Ecologist and Assistant Director

Growth, Housing and Environment

Approved by: Director – Natural Environment

Growth, Housing and Environment

24th January 2019

Ministerial Case: MD-PE-2019-0016

NE-WR-Grass Snake Amendment 23.1.19