Wildlife

Wild Cormorant Welfare and Aquaculture Conflict

Cormorants face persecution from fishing and aquaculture interests, requiring evidence-based conflict resolution approaches.

Key Facts

Great cormorant populations have recovered strongly in Europe following legal protection
Cormorants cause significant losses at fish farms and angling waters, creating conflict
Lethal control licences are granted in many countries to reduce cormorant predation
Non-lethal deterrents including wires, scarecrows and lasers have variable effectiveness
Population-level welfare impacts of legal culling must be assessed alongside fish farming economics

Welfare Considerations

Cormorants killed under lethal control licences represent welfare costs that should be evaluated against demonstrated economic harm and non-lethal alternative effectiveness. Indiscriminate shooting causes injury and non-target mortality. Evidence-based adaptive management that uses the minimum lethal control necessary alongside effective non-lethal deterrents is appropriate.

What You Can Do

Support aquaculture and angling operations that use non-lethal deterrents preferentially
Advocate for evidence-based licensing criteria for lethal cormorant control
Support bird organisations monitoring cormorant population impacts of lethal control
Engage with angling clubs about cormorant management approaches