Mycologist criticized the law on the protection of red book mushrooms in the Moscow region

Candidate of Biological Sciences, mycologist Mikhail Vishnevsky said that the law on the protection of red book mushrooms in the Moscow region is not only difficult to implement in practice, but also scientifically untenable.

In an interview with Radio 1 on Tuesday, February 17, he noted that the application of the law would require specialists capable of distinguishing a rare mushroom from an ordinary twin, which requires serious training and laboratory equipment. In addition, mushrooms deteriorate quickly, which makes it impossible to correctly identify them as part of the examination.

The biologist noted that the authors of the initiative mechanically transferred the methods of plant and animal protection to mushrooms, which is a mistake. He stressed that mushroom picking does not harm the population, but on the contrary, stimulates its development, comparing the ban with the absurd idea of prohibiting apple picking in order to preserve the apple tree.

The mycologist explained that when removing fruit bodies, the mycelium tends to compensate for this and forms new ones, spreading even more spores. According to him, the largest number of mushrooms is usually found where they are most often harvested, so instead of fines for collecting rare species, it would be more logical to encourage attentive mushroom pickers.

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February 14th Life.ru He wrote that in the Moscow region they plan to introduce fines for the collection and sale of mushrooms listed in the regional Red Book. Starting from September 1, fines are provided for the illegal collection, destruction or sale of rare mushrooms: for citizens — from 1 to 3 thousand rubles, for officials — from 20 to 30 thousand, for organizations — from 50 to 100 thousand rubles.

In October, Vishnevsky said that among the deadly species that are often confused with edible ones, the expert singled out pale toadstool, green fly agaric, smelly fly agaric and sulfur-yellow honeydew, notes 360.ru .

In September, mushroom expert and mycologist Maxim Dyakov called for collecting only familiar mushrooms so as not to encounter poisoning and trouble with the law. The expert recalled that picking mushrooms is prohibited in nature conservation areas, including all parks in Moscow.

Earlier, Dyakov warned that mushrooms collected 50 meters from the road are dangerous to health. He recalled that mushrooms have the property of absorbing heavy metals, the website writes kp.ru . He also urged not to use any folk methods to identify a poisonous mushroom and, in case of doubt, take experienced mushroom pickers with them.

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