Hérault Cormorants Spark Dispute Over Fish Stocks
Nearly 3,200 great cormorants wintering in the Hérault department are consuming over a ton of fish daily, triggering a sharp financial and ecological dispute between local fishing federations and state authorities over population control measures.
The great cormorant population has expanded dramatically across Europe over the past four decades, rising from tens of thousands in the 1980s to nearly 2 million individuals today. This growth followed a ban on egg collection in Scandinavian countries and protections established under a European directive of 2009. In France, the wintering population has reached 120,000 birds.
Thirty-Five Tons of Fish Consumed Each Month
The Hérault fishing federation, known as FD 34, points to counting diagrams showing that each of the department’s 3,200 wintering cormorants eats a minimum of 350 grams of fish per day. According to calculations by FD 34, this voracious appetite accounts for more than a ton of fish consumed daily and roughly 35 tonnes every month.
To offset this natural competition, the federation conducts costly restocking campaigns. During the winter of 2024 and 2025, the organization released 4,485 kilograms of fish into local waterways and water bodies—an amount equivalent to what the local cormorant population devours in just four days. That single restocking effort cost 55,644 euros.
Populations of the birds are now settling on smaller watercourses. In the Brèze river at Saint-Étienne de Gourgas, populations of brown trout and minnows have dropped significantly since 2019.
Multiple Pressures on Fragile Headwaters
Maxime Cambefort, director of the Hérault fishing structure, acknowledges that smaller headwater streams face multiple compounding pressures alongside avian predation. Warming temperatures, severe droughts, shrinking summer water levels, and the introduction of the American mink all contribute to the strain.
Nevertheless, Cambefort describes the cormorant as an additional factor pushing fragile populations past their limits. While the species naturally inhabits marine environments, coastlines, and lowland rivers, Denis Legret, treasurer of FD 34, suggests that a lack of fish on the maritime front and ongoing legal protections are driving the birds further inland.
Federation Seeks Authorization for Cormorant Culling
The federation has spent months seeking official authorization for cormorant culling to protect fish stocks, with little success so far. In October 2025, FD 34 presented an initial dossier to then-prefect François-Xavier Lauch to request the resumption of regulation shooting. After receiving feedback, the federation reworked the proposal and submitted it to the departmental DDTM. That application went unanswered for four months, resulting in an administrative rejection without explanation.
A fresh approach began when representatives met with the new prefect, Chantal Mauchet, on June 9, 2026. Discussions turned toward launching a three-year scientific study analyzing the stomach contents of great cormorants to measure their exact impact. This proposed research requires specific state exemptions to allow permitted hunters to collect specimens using lead-free ammunition while protecting nesting birds.
The prefecture notes that the requested derogation for a protected species is designed to gather missing data rather than serve as an immediate culling operation. After submitting the proposal to the DDTM in July and to the DREAL in early October, FD 34 is still waiting for a definitive validation.
Unresolved Legal Precedents Across France
Nationwide, efforts by fishing organizations to secure shooting permits face steep legal hurdles. The LPO has successfully overturned 20 prefectural decrees authorizing cormorant culls in open waters. Courts ruled those orders lacked sufficient scientific proof linking cormorant predation directly to the decline of protected fish populations.
Faced with these legal obstacles, FD 34 tested scaring devices and installed protective wire cages over fish populations in designated water bodies. Officials found these mitigation tools expensive and largely ineffective. Four distinct fishing federations also commissioned a 34,000-euro study from the Ayga consulting firm to strengthen their case for regulatory shooting.
Whether the newly proposed three-year stomach content study will secure approval from environmental authorities remains entirely open, leaving local fishing advocates waiting for concrete direction as the wintering bird numbers remain high.