The government is expected to make an announcement on Thursday, September 16th in answer to a parliamentary question tabled by Martin Salter MP regarding measures to help deal with increasing problems caused by cormorants to freshwater fisheries in the UK.
There has been a huge increase in the number of cormorants coming inland since the 1970s and serious damage to fish stocks and the bio-diversity of freshwater fisheries. Current estimates suggest there are some 23,000 birds over wintering in Great Britain. For the last ten years angling organisations have been pressing the government to free up the current restrictive licensing regime which allows cormorants only to be shot once damage has already occurred to a fishery. Anglers have been pressing for a significant increase in the number of licences issued to shoot cormorants to prevent damage to both fisheries and the bio-diversity of the waterside environment.
Fisheries and Nature Conservation Minister, Ben Bradshaw, has been conducting a review of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 which implements the EU Birds Directive governing the circumstances under which birds can be culled.
NOTICE OF PRESS CONFERENCE
Journalists and film crews are invited to a press conference with the main angling governing bodies organized by Martin Salter MP, the government’s Parliamentary Spokesperson for Angling and Shooting on Thursday 16th September at 12.30pm in Room C, 1 Parliament Street, House of Commons, Westminster. The press conference immediately follows the expected government announcement. There will be reaction from the following:
Terry Fell – President of National Federation of Anglers
Paul Knight – Director of Salmon and Trout Association
Terry Mansbridge – Chairman of the National Association of Fisheries and Angling Consultatives.
Dr. Bruno Broughton – Scientific advisor to the Angling Trades Association
It is also planned to present practical examples of how increased cormorant predation has damaged fresh water fish stocks in environmentally sensitive locations and threatened the recovery of salmon runs on key English rivers.
Martin Salter’s parliamentary question:
‘To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs pursuant to her answer of 20th May 2004, Official Report, column 1084, on cormorant predation what additional measures will be introduced to help angling clubs and fishing owners protect fish stocks in freshwater fisheries from cormorant predation?’
