§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what guidance he has issued to fishery proprietors and others on recommended methods of scaring cormorants and saw-bill ducks away 631W from fisheries where they are causing or are likely to cause serious damage.
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 14 March 1995]: Advice on predation of fisheries is given by ADAS, the Ministry's wildlife advisers, to those applying for licences to kill or take piscivorous birds under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, for the purposes of preventing serious damage to fisheries. This covers advice on the use of deterrents—for example, scaring with rockets or bird scaring cartridges and human presence; proofing and exclusion; habitat modification and adjusting the stocking regime.
The research programme on piscivorous birds currently being commissioned by the Ministry and the Department of the Environment aims to help establish appropriate management techniques in different situations for reducing the impact of these birds on inland fisheries.
§ Sir Cranley OnslowTo ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what representations he has received from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds about the disturbance caused to other bird species by activity undertaken by fishery proprietors and others to scare away cormorants and saw-bill ducks which threaten to damage inland fisheries.
§ Mrs. Browning[holding answer 14 March 1995]: I am not aware of any such representations having been received by this Ministry.