Project: Hunting of the cormorants to be allowed in Romania

Several MPs have submitted to the Senate a project aimed at changing the Hunting Law and allowing the hunting of the cormorants, currently a protected species, Stirileprotv.ro reported.

The MPs are members of the ruling Social Democrat Party (PSD), of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) and of the People's Movement Party (PMP).

The initiators of the project say the cormorant population has increased significantly.

“The idea came following a study, because in Romania the cormorants proliferated. There are over 150,000 cormorants in the country. And the damage they create in the fishing area amounts to some 20,000 tons of fish. If I provide other statistics you will get scared because we produce only some 12,000 tons of fish,” PSD MP Alexandru Stănescu, an initiator of the project, said, quoted by Agerpres.

Stănescu, who is also the president of the Agriculture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, said a cormorant eats around 150 kg of fish per year, both from the wild areas and from aquaculture.

“In 1979, as far as I know, when the cormorant became protected, there were around 5,000 – 6,000 cormorants in Europe. Now there are almost 2 million and 140,000 in Romania. […] Mr Daea [e.n. the agriculture minister] is not the initiator. Mr Daea noticed a situation and for there on we move further. We need to find a solution. The Environment Minister will decide how many cormorants will be extracted every year,” Stănescu went on.

According to the project, the hunting of the great cormorant would be allowed between September 1 and February 28, Digi24.ro reported.

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