A new order
The decision grants a 4-month deadline for the issue of a new decree providing for such shootings. Since September 19, 2022, the French government had suspended the practice of shooting cormorants in open waters. In so doing, it prohibited prefects from granting regulation shots to protect fish. The FNPF and its entire network of associations strongly condemned this extreme decision, which ran counter to the protection of fish stocks, and in particular of certain fragile heritage species.
The Great Cormorant consumes between 300 and 500 grams of fish per day, preying in particular on migratory fish, pike, grayling and trout. In the Aude department, for example, the results of a study carried out by the departmental fishing federation show that the biomass of grayling has fallen by almost 80% as a result of the cormorant. Numerous observations in the field also prove that the bird has extended its territory and is becoming sedentary.
To justify its decision, the Conseil d'État ruled that the government had "deprived prefects of the possibility of granting derogations for open waters from bans on the destruction of great cormorants". It gave the Ministers of Agriculture and Ecological Transition four months to issue a new decree setting departmental shooting quotas for their regulation in open waters for the period 2022-2025.
Regulatory change imminent
"This project has mobilized us in terms of both technical studies and political and legal action. Today, we are delighted with this success in favor of fish populations, the result of an unprecedented mobilization of our associative network and parliamentarians throughout the country! We look forward to an imminent regulatory amendment, operational for autumn as announced by the Ministry of Ecological Transition." Claude Roustan, President of the FNPF
