Grey herons and great cormorants are effective fish predators that conflict with angling and fish farming. Managing these conflicts with welfare considerations is both possible and necessary.
Managing heron and cormorant conflicts with welfare sensitivity requires prioritising non-lethal deterrence before considering culling. Overhead wire systems over fish ponds effectively exclude herons with no welfare harm to the birds. Cormorant exclusion at aquaculture sites through netting prevents losses without killing. Where culling is genuinely necessary, appropriate firearms and shooting skill minimise wounding rates. The welfare of individually wounded birds - shot but not killed, suffering until found or dying slowly - represents the primary welfare cost of poorly managed culling operations and argues strongly for non-lethal alternatives.