Story perspectives

EU Ministers Push Huntable Cormorant Listing, Cite €350 M Fish Losses

5/21/2026

Summary

Story summary

Sixteen ministers from EU states sent a letter to Commissioners Jessika Roswall and Costas Kadis asking to list cormorants as huntable under the 1979 Birds Directive.
They say cormorants cause €350 million in annual fish losses, each eating about half a kilo daily and harming inland stocks and ponds.
Estonian Minister Hendrik Johannes Terras reports cormorants eat roughly 20,000 metric tons of fish yearly in Estonia, nearly twice coastal fishermen’s catch.

1 of 1

Story summary

Sixteen ministers from EU states sent a letter to Commissioners Jessika Roswall and Costas Kadis asking to list cormorants as huntable under the 1979 Birds Directive.
They say cormorants cause €350 million in annual fish losses, each eating about half a kilo daily and harming inland stocks and ponds.
Estonian Minister Hendrik Johannes Terras reports cormorants eat roughly 20,000 metric tons of fish yearly in Estonia, nearly twice coastal fishermen’s catch.