Madrid approves the new regional Hunting and Fishing Law

The Official State Gazette number 213, of Saturday, August 29, 2026, publishes in its section I (General Provisions) Law 4/2026, of July 2, on Hunting and Fishing of the Community of Madrid, approved by the Assembly of Madrid and promulgated by the President of the Community of Madrid. The regulation, with official reference BOE-A-2026-18282, is published on page 117162 and regulates, for the first time in an integrated manner, the management of hunting resources and inland fishing in the region.

The law replaces Law 1/1970, of April 4, on hunting, and the Law of February 20, 1942, on the promotion and conservation of river fishing, along with their regulations, which until now governed the activity in Madrid. It is framed within the basic state legislation—Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity, and Law 43/2003, of November 21, on Forests—and within the European directives on habitats and wild birds. According to the preamble, around 70% of the surface area of the Community of Madrid is hunting land, and the sector is recognized as an economic activity of general interest for the rural environment.

Structure and scope of application

The regulation is organized into three books: the first regulates hunting (articles 1 to 81), the second fishing (articles 82 to 172), and the third the sanctioning regime and the improvement fund (articles 173 to 191). It also includes four additional provisions, eight transitional provisions, one repealing provision, three final provisions, and five annexes with the game and fishable species and the season calendars.

• Hunting: game species, classification of lands, regional reserves, controlled hunting zones, hunting preserves (cotos), licenses and hunter’s examination, modalities, hunting planning, and population control.
• Fishing: fishable species, water bodies, fishing preserves (cotos), licenses and permits, gear and tackle, minimum sizes and catch quotas, aquaculture, and control of invasive alien species.
• Common regime: advisory bodies, surveillance and inspection, and a Regional Registry of Hunting and Fishing Offenders.

Preserves, reserves, and planning

The law modernizes territorial management figures. It creates the Registry of Hunting Preserves of the Community of Madrid and regulates the constitution, expansion, segregation, and extinction of preserves, as well as the change of ownership and suspension. All lands with hunting exploitation must have an approved technical hunting plan before exercising the activity, conditioned by territorial and species plans. The second additional provision renames the current Sonsaz National Hunting Reserve as the Sonsaz Regional Hunting Reserve.

Sanctioning regime

Book three updates the infractions and sanctions, which until now ranged between 1.50 and 30.05 euros, amounts that the preamble itself considers insufficient for a deterrent effect. The fines are graded into three tiers, for both hunting and fishing:

• Minor: fine from 200 to 1,000 euros, with possible withdrawal of license and disqualification for up to one year.
• Serious: fine from 1,001 to 10,000 euros, with disqualification from one to three years.
• Very serious: fine from 10,001 to 80,000 euros, with withdrawal of license and disqualification from three to five years.

Behaviors such as hunting with weapons of war, holding collective hunts without authorization, capturing specimens with a value exceeding 5,000 euros, or misappropriating trophies are classified. Coercive fines may be imposed for periods of one month, between 600 and 3,000 euros each, up to a maximum of ten.

Entry into force

According to the third final provision, the law will enter into force six months after its publication in the Official Gazette of the Community of Madrid. Until then, the transitional provisions provide for the adaptation of existing hunting grounds, the validity of hunting and fishing regulation orders, and the delimitation of trout waters.

The new regulation directly affects hunters, fishers, landowners, and hunting ground managers, who must adapt their licenses, technical plans, and procedures to the new framework. With this, Madrid commits to a sustainable hunting and fishing model, integrated into the rural environment and oriented toward population control and the conservation of biodiversity.

Source: Official State Gazette, no. 213, Saturday, August 29, 2026, section I (General provisions), page 117162 (official reference: BOE-A-2026-18282).