The cry of the cormorants? Must be urgently answered!

All
agree that the shots of “destruction” cannot regulate a
population of breeding birds, especially in accordance with the
precise levels of the department. But here we are: by a prefectural
decision, these big cormorants, birds protected by the law and by a
European directive, are declared huntable by departmental quotas
because they extensively harm the pisciculture farms and even certain
species of wild river fish, also protected and especially coveted by
fishing companies.

The
State and its local agents, the Prefects, are diligently responding
to the wishes of an economic sector that does not take the time to
find alternative methods: No less than half of the large cormorants
wintering in France are affected by the planned destruction by
shooting in 88 metropolitan departments. 50,000 birds per year…

Deadly and unjustified decree

A
similar decree framework has already been taken on in 2016 for the
last three years, in the same proportions and at the time could not
be thwarted by the mobilization of citizens. This new public
consultation, open until July 31^st
(go quickly and give your opinion using the arguments already cited
in this article !), It’s the opportunity to say no, and to say that
the solution does not lie in mass shootings of “Destruction”.
What’s even crueller, is that these protected birds are fired at with
light cartridges which are regulated: shot and injured, they often
suffer in agony for hours!

The
National Council for the Protection of Nature this time unanimously
gave an unfavourable opinion to the renewal of a measure that only
pleased a few economic actors, and of course the fishermen and
hunters. All these arguments did not make the ministry retreat:

• shooting
  is ineffective in controlling overwintering populations in each
  department;

• It has not been demonstrated
  that these shootings can reduce the predation levels of these
  piscivorous birds, especially in open waters where the protection of
  fish depends on several other factors (predation by other animals,
  including types of catfish, quality of the water, etc.); in
  addition, cormorants feed mainly on abundant prey such as cyprinids
  or even exotic species (catfish and perch);

• The
  large cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) targeted by the decree are
  very similar to another subspecies of cormorants (Phalacrocorax
  carbo), whose populations In France are unstable. It will be
  difficult for hunters to judge between killing the “right”
  birds;

• The
  exact justification for requesting open water shooting has not been
  made, nor do the pond farmers produce any departmental economic
  statistics on the impact of this type of predation from the Great
  Cormorants who winter in France.

As
in other cases, the only response here would be through destruction
to protect an economic activity in a natural environment that a bird
cannot understand. Of course, French fish farming is going through a
difficult time in competition with other countries that are curiously
not experiencing the same problem. They are struggling trying to make
a profit and when it is declared impossible to equip whole hectares
of ponds with systems to scare off or to protect (via netting),
scapegoats are quickly found. All animals like this are declared
harmful because of their survival and their dependence on the type of
prey available. However, regulations require us to look for
alternative solutions before drawing and aiming rifles against
wildlife…

Pack it in and protect your farms !

Last
February, a fish farmer from the
department Deux-Sèvres
sued the state for the damage suffered by its exploitation since the
arrival of cormorants on the property. The man, who can not invest
the estimated 500,000 euros to effectively protect his pond, has
still obtained 800 € compensation per hectare per year over the
period from 2010 to 2015, a total of € 160,000. “Being located
in a natural area of ecological, faunistic and floristic interest, I
can not even destroy the nests”, he deplores, reserving the
right to bring a new legal procedure for the period 2016-2020, if the
State, with
consequently our taxes,
can not find a solution to its problem.

But
slaughtering these birds is not a solution. Exercise more regular
monitoring, protect the ponds … Of course, it is expensive, like
working differently with better quality water, controlling the
effluents of agriculture. But is this not the job of professionals,
improving and tracing their production? No, instead of this, and
despite of the help available in Europe, it is preferable to
incriminate the so called “pests”, all those animals to
whom not one has the right to life.

The
great cormorant is the tree that hides the forest: there are many
concerns regarding other fish-eating animals (herons, bitterns,
kingfishers, storks, otters, mink…). Should we kill them all in the
name of a scared economic activity ? What are the answers to the
reasons why cormorants colonize ponds and rivers in France by leaving
their typical habitat (the large estuaries, the coasts of the sea or
the beds of the great rivers of Europe)? Will mass fire change
anything ?

Finally,
if we really wonder about the balance of natural populations in our
ponds and rivers, the prey-predator relationship, why do we rather
not ask the questions about the place of human fishing in so-called
threatened environments ?

The
fishermen are obviously mobilized in favour of this current
situation. The number of comments requiring the eradication of these
birds that deprive them of their catch is impressive. We must spread
the word in these final days to massively oppose this killing. Act
now !

Anyway,
if the mobilization fails to stop the ecological slaughter that is
being prepared, we will attack the ministerial decree in court so we
can restore the rights of these large birds, remember they are
protected. Such exceptions to their protection are unjustifiable !