This article was featured in Eurofish Magazine 4 2026.
At the EU Agriculture and Fisheries Council on 26 May 2026, Czechia, backed by Croatia, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Sweden and Slovakia, called for work to begin without delay on a European Management Plan for the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), citing its growing impact on inland fisheries, aquatic ecosystems and aquaculture.
The initiative aims to replace fragmented national responses to this mobile, transboundary species with a common framework based on scientific evidence, harmonised population monitoring, damage assessment and cross-country cooperation. For aquaculture, predation can cause biomass losses, fish injuries, stress and added costs for nets and deterrents, particularly affecting Mediterranean systems such as coastal lagoons, fish valleys, wetlands and extensive ponds, where fish are more exposed. The great cormorant is not listed in Annex II of the Birds Directive, so it cannot be hunted as an ordinary game species, though derogations allowing action against serious damage are applied unevenly across the EU. Pressure is also building to revisit its legal status. This call reflects the growing importance of local, emergency measures toward shared governance, balancing biodiversity protection with aquaculture’s economic sustainability.
