Fabio Rolfi, Councilor for Agriculture of the Lombardy Region, addressed the Provinces of Varese, Brescia, Como, Bergamo and Lecco regarding the containment plans for cormorants. The devices were approved in September 2018 and received the green light from ISPRA. Rolfi demanded from the presidents the utmost vigilance on the implementation, despite the difficulties last year. The plan has a very specific timing and we need to proceed carefully.
The goal is to minimize predation on fish species. The first killing dates back to last November and will end on March 15th. The Lombard provinces include almost a thousand specimens to be contained (923 to be precise), about a tenth of those counted in the whole of Lombardy. After two months of activity they were barely 59 the animals killed, among other things all in the Lecco area.
The other provinces are at zero altitude, consequently Rolfi wished an improvement in results. The commissioner concluded his statement as follows: "The increase in the cormorant has led to the reduction of an increasingly significant share in fish stocks, with damaging effects on production and professional and sport fishing activities".