A protected species, the great cormorant has become over the years the “bete noire” of Brenne fish farmers, who have sounded the alarm. A few months ago, the prefect of Indre was already considering experimenting with targeted shooting on a dormitory identified on the edge of Creuse. But in the meantime, the situation has changed at the national level with the decision of the Council of State to reverse the ban on regulating great cormorants in open waters, taken on July 8, 2024. This decision follows the request of the National Federation for Fishing and the Protection of the Aquatic Environment (FNPF) which wanted to resume the regulation of the great cormorant, due to its impact on fish populations.
In Indre, the prefect is thus among the first to sign a decree to this effect. It concerns the populations of cormorants in the dormitories of Vilnet, la Roche and la Gastevine, in the communes of Ruffec and du Blanc. These dormitories are located approximately 30 km from the large Brenne ponds. Gold, “the cormorant can travel up to 30 km to feed”, recalls the order, motivated by “the impacts » predation “on fish populations” observed “at the time of pond fishing and transmitted in November 2023 and 2024 by the fish farmers’ union”.
Authorized until January 15, 2025
The decree now authorizes targeted shooting of the great cormorant, until January 15, 2025. This green light is very “framed and proportionate”specifies the prefect, Thibault Lanxade, who intends to respond to the concerns raised by environmental defense associations such as Indre Nature. The authorization is in fact limited to the three dormitories mentioned, and is aimed at “agents holding a validated hunting license”. “The shooters will be able to intervene from the river area of the Creuse River. Shooting will be done with shotguns equipped with steel shot. »
Finally, the decree specifies that these regulatory operations will be subject to a “weekly report to be sent to the Departmental Territorial Directorate”. Must be detailed for each dormitory: “The number of birds present, the number of birds taken, the impact of the intervention on water bodies subject to massive predation due to the vulnerability of fish at the time of fishing, the impact on the cormorant population.
