Too hot a year
With 2023 being the warmest year driven by a month of November which set the record with a temperature of 0.85°C higher than the average for the period 1991-2020, there is the invasion of cormorants in Puglia, the birds that eat fish, more than tripled due to the tropicalization of the climate, with serious economic repercussions for fishermen and fish farms in the open sea. This is what Coldiretti Puglia states, in reference to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Union with the tropicalization of the climate which sends nature into a tailspin and causes wildlife to proliferate, such as the cormorants which from migratory have become sedentary in Puglia with damage to fishing on farms, at sea and in the lagoon. Each cormorant eats up to 10 kilograms of fish per month, over 300 grams per day, leaving among other things – reports Coldiretti Puglia – fish injured in predatory activity and with the risk of the spread of diseases and parasites. The number of wintering cormorants has grown approximately twenty-fold in the last 25 years - adds Coldiretti Puglia - according to a parallel trend and closely related to the exponential growth of nesting populations in the countries of central-northern Europe.
The most alarming situations
The increasingly invasive presence of cormorants – adds Coldiretti Puglia – is reported by fishermen in the province of Bari both in the south, between Mola di Bari and Torre a Mare and in the north between Giovinazzo and Bisceglie, on the coast of Taranto, in the Varano lagoon, on the Capaccio del Celone Dam in Lucera and at the Salso Lake marsh in Manfredonia, in Gallipoli and on the over 400 kilometers of coastline in the region. It is now a real emergency in light of the damage caused to the activity of fish farms in the open sea in Puglia and to the very life of fish in the seas. The predatory activity of cormorants – explains Coldiretti Puglia – subjects marine life to severe stress as it is so intense that it does not allow the growth, development and reproduction of the species they feed on.
The damage caused by the species
They are not limited to valuable fish species – adds Coldiretti Puglia – because they also eat those fodder species that should serve as meals for the former, making their impact on the fishing sector even more negative. For aquaculture farmers and professional fishermen, the reduction in catches is the factor with the greatest impact - reports Coldiretti Puglia - while for sport fishermen at risk it is the reduction in fish stocks due to reduced natural production. The damage caused by the cormorants adds to the effects of the conflict in Ukraine, with a very serious scenario in the maritime sector due to the high cost of fuel which is stopping fishing vessels and boats in the docks and the drop in consumption due to inflation which has led to a loss of power of purchase to families.
Other wildlife
In Puglia the damage caused by wildlife is enormous, with wild boars destroying crops and attacking humans and farmed animals - reports Coldiretti Puglia - as well as wolves and wild dogs, starlings eliminate the production of olives and destroy pitches, hares literally devour entire vegetable fields, cormorants eat fish in aquaculture plants, with damage amounting to over 16 million euros. Farmers are fencing farms at their own expense at considerable cost to defend themselves from wild boars that destroy structures and production. This is an unsustainable situation - concludes the regional Coldiretti - which is causing the abandonment of internal areas, with social, economic and environmental problems (source: Coldiretti).
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