Ocean Sentry
(From worldradio.ch)- Earlier this week conservationists handed in a 26,000-strong petition, calling for cormorants to be protected in Switzerland. In less than a decade, the seabird has established colonies on lakes across the country, bringing them into conflict with local fishermen who accuse them of decimating fish stocks.
According to the Federal Environment Office, there are now around 350 breeding pairs, with some 250 concentrated around Lake Neuchâtel in western Switzerland.
Fishermen want a change in the law to allow cantons to control the cormorant population and destroy some unhatched eggs—something that the Swiss Association for the Protection of Birds is vehemently opposed to. WRS’s Adam Beaumont spoke to Werner Müller, the association’s president.
