§ Lord Mason of Barnsleyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What further measures they have in mind to help resolve the conflict with the trout fisheries and their representative organisations over the further culling of cormorants. [HL4589]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Lord Whitty)It was announced on the 16 September 2004 changes to the individual licensing system for controlling cormorants.
The main policy change is to abandon the strategy of shooting a small number of cormorants to reinforce non-lethal scaring. Licences will now allow fisheries managers to reduce the numbers of cormorants at a site as well as to aid scaring. A revised licensing system will make it simpler to apply for licences to kill cormorants where serious damage is occurring or is likely to occur. The objective of the new licensing policy is not to reduce the cormorant population but to reduce damage caused by cormorants while protecting the conservation state of the cormorant population.
Defra will continue to grant licences to kill cormorants on a case-by-case basis to solve specific problems at fisheries and non-lethal solutions will have to have been considered first. However, the number of licences issued is likely to increase.
Modelling from the Central Science Laboratory suggests the cormorant population is likely to reduce a little but stabilise well above its historic level. Its reports have explored the limits within which the licensing system may operate without risking the conservation status of the cormorant population. They do not recommend levels of population reduction. To further safeguard the conservation of cormorants we will monitor the national population and if necessary reduce or stop the granting of licences should the population not respond in the way we predict. There are no plans for any further changes in this policy.