Great cormorants are frequently blamed for fish stock depletion and face lethal control across Europe and North America. Evidence-based coexistence approaches protect both cormorants and fisheries welfare.
Cormorant welfare is threatened by lethal control programs justified by fish predation concerns. Cormorants shot during control operations may be wounded rather than killed outright, causing suffering. Nest destruction methods cause death of eggs and chicks. The evidence base for cormorant impact on wild fisheries is contested — many studies find no significant cormorant effect on fish populations in natural river systems. At aquaculture sites, impact is real but manageable through non-lethal deterrents. From a welfare perspective, the precautionary principle suggests exhausting non-lethal deterrence before resorting to lethal control. Scarers, bird-of-prey decoys, fishing line barriers over ponds, and habitat modification at roosting sites are all effective alternatives that protect fish stocking without causing cormorant suffering.