Closed petition Take action to reduce cormorant numbers

Closed on 6 February 2022

Some studies have demonstrated that cormorants can have significant negative impacts on fish stocks. The wildlife license is not sufficient to solve this problem. Numbers are getting way out of hand, and fish stocks being affected as a result.

The Government should temporarily lift the protected status of cormorants, to enable controlled reduction of numbers. The numbers of cormorants culled could be tracked, and protections reintroduced once numbers are reduced to manageable levels. Cormorant numbers should then be kept under review, to inform whether a further reduction in numbers is necessary.