The fishery region of Nauvo is demanding that the Turku Administrative Court overturn a decision made by the Centre for Economic Development, Transport and the Environment (ELY Centre) in Southwest Finland, which rejected the fishery region’s special permit to disturb and shoot great black cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) in Nauvo in the Turku archipelago.
According to the ELY centre, the alleged damage to fish stocks by cormorants has not been cleared up reasonably enough in order to estimate that all damage has been unambiguously caused by the large dark birds.
According to the Finnish Environment Institute, there are 17,000 nesting great cormorant couples in Finland in the current year.
In the area of Nauvo, there are 37 local professional fishermen, while another 12 professionals fishing in the area live elsewhere.
In the fishery region’s view, it is indisputable that the only solution to prevent cormorants from causing damage is to shoot the birds.
According to the complaint filed by the fishery region, the presenting official in the ELY centre has been legally incompetent to handle the matter, as he is a member of the ornithological society BirdLife.
According to the fishery region, their confidence in the official has been compromised because of his active participation in the ornithological society.
Helsingin Sanomat