Invasion of cormorants in Puglia, birds that eat fish more than tripled due to the tropicalization of the climate and the global warming, with serious economic repercussions for fishermen and livestock. This is what he says Coldiretti Puglia, on the occasion of World Wildlife Day 2022, celebrated every year on March 3, which requires the protection of biodiversity, with the right balance of the Apulian ecosystem with the wildlife that has invaded the region, with wolves, wild boars, parrots, cormorants, starlings and hares, which have become permanent with considerable damage to the biodiversity of the territory.
The increasingly invasive presence of Cormorants - adds Coldiretti Puglia - it is reported by fishermen in the province of Bari both to the south, between Mola di Bari and Torre a Mare and to the north between Giovinazzo and Bisceglie, on the coast of Taranto, in the Varano lagoon, on the Capaccio del Celone Dam in Lucera and near the marsh of Lago Salso in Manfredonia, in Gallipoli and on the more than 400 kilometers of coast of the region. Each Cormorant eats up to 10 kilograms of fish per month, over 300 grams per day, leaving, among other things, fish injured in predatory activity and with the risk of the spread of diseases and parasites ”, denounces Savino Muraglia, president of Coldiretti Puglia.
The number of wintering Cormorants has increased by about twenty times in the last 25 years - adds Coldiretti Puglia - according to a parallel trend and strictly correlated to the exponential growth of the breeding populations in the countries of central-northern Europe. "It is now a real emergency in light of the damage caused to fish farming and the very life of fish in the seas. The predatory activity of the Cormorants - explains the president of Coldiretti Puglia, Savino Muraglia - subjects marine life to great stress since it is so intense that it does not allow the growth, development and reproduction of species they feed on ".
They are not limited to prized fish species - adds Coldiretti Puglia - because they also eat those forage-species that should serve as a meal for the first ones, making their impact on the fishing sector even more negative. For aquaculturists and professional fishermen the reduction of the catch was the greatest impact factor - reports Coldiretti Puglia - while for the sport fishermen at risk it is the reduction of fish stocks due to a reduced natural production. The damage caused by the Cormorants adds to the effects of the second wave of the Covid pandemic, with a very serious scenario in the seafarers due to the expensive fuel that is stopping the fishing boats and boats in the docks, after the damage caused by Covid with the closure of the restaurants for months beyond 30 million euro.
In Puglia the damage caused by wildlife is enormous, with wild boars destroying crops and attacking men and farmed animals - denunciation Coldiretti Puglia - as well as wolves and wild dogs, starlings eliminate the production of olives and destroy the pitches, the hares literally devour entire fields of vegetables, the cormorants eat the fish in the aquaculture plants, with damage equal to over 14 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 inland areas, with social, economic and environmental problems.