Commercial fishing and the cormorant – fishers’ perspectives

This study deals with cormorant-induced problems encountered by commercial fishers along the Finnish Baltic coast, and options for mitigating harm to their livelihood. The results are based on a telephone survey conducted in 2009 by the Finnish Game and Fisheries Research Institute.

One half of the commercial fishers interviewed stated that the cormorant was a hindrance to their livelihood. The rapid increase in the cormorant population has resulted in a reduced fish catch, and damage to fishing gear, as well as to the fish. In summer, major problems are encountered close to cormorant breeding colonies, while after the close of the breeding season in autumn the problems continue unabated, only over a larger geographical area. Bays important for commercial fishing often double as popular feeding grounds for cormorants.

Cormorant has caused damage to both gill net and trap net fisheries. The nets are broken when cormorants dive through the gear or tear fish from the net. Such problems have increased within the last three years. Many of the fishers considered there had been a general reduction in fish stocks, for which cormorants were partly to blame. Cormorant-induced harm had caused some fishers to change their fishing grounds or fishing methods.

Fishers particularly operating in the Gulf of Finland, the Archipelago Sea and the Bothnian Sea had encountered severe problems with cormorant populations. Almost half of those interviewed (42%) had suffered fi nancial loss which they attributed to cormorant activity, but only some were able to give an estimate of the sum involved. The majority viewed the seal as more detrimental in this respect. In 2008, the average estimate for seal-induced harm to the livelihood of fishers was three times that of the cormorant.

Fishers were asked to select the best tools for mitigating cormorant problems. The suggestion that emerged, with particular reference to the Gulf of Bothnia and the Archipelago Sea, was that the hunting of cormorant, in line with the hunting of waterfowl, should be permitted. Fishers in the Gulf of Finland, on the other hand, suggested destruction of cormorant eggs and nests as an effective means. The general consensus among the Finnish commercial fishers interviewed was that the future management of cormorant populations and coastal fisheries depended on enhanced collaboration between research, administration, the fishing industry and the recreational sector.