During the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council meeting on Tuesday, 26 May, the Czech Republic—supported by Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden—called for a joint European approach to be taken in order to cope with the impact of fish-eating predators, specifically the great cormorant.
Estonia and Finland asked that this species be classified in Annex II of the Birds Directive, which means that it would be one of the huntable species. With an estimated population of almost two million, cormorants in Europe thus reportedly consume around 360,000 tonnes of fish total annually.
These countries believe that predation is putting an increasing amount of pressure on fishing and aquaculture. In their opinion, the great cormorant’s highly mobile, cross-border nature renders isolated national measures insufficient.
They lament the lack of a common European framework and the limited effectiveness of existing instruments, including the derogations provided for in EU legislation. As a result, they are calling for work on a European management plan for the great cormorant to be started immediately.
European Commissioner for the Environment Jessika Roswall reiterated that the European Commission had published updated guidance on the Birds Directive in March, with an annex specifically on the cormorant (see EUROPE 13715/4). She pointed out, “For a truly effective European [...] management plan, you may need to also involve authorities in charge of enforcing bird protection rules and work within a more binding framework”.
Link to the note from these countries: https://aeur.eu/f/m11 (Original version in French by Lionel Changeur)