Inadequate guidelines
Battista Ghisu, extraordinary administrator of the Province of Oristano sent a note to the Councilor for Environmental Protection of the Sardinia Region, Rosanna Laconi. This is the text: “In recent days,” Ghisu writes, addressing Councilor Laconi, “a meeting was held in the provincial administration council room, requested by the trade associations of the fishing sector, to discuss the census of cormorants and other problems of the fisheries. At the meeting called by the undersigned, in addition to Legacoop, Confcooperative, Unicoop and Uecoop, all of the fishing sector of Oristano, there were representatives of the Consorzio Pontis di Cabras, Consorzio Marceddi, Coop pescatori Santa Giusta Coop pescatori S'Ena Arrubia, Coop Mistras and Coop Is Benas. The head of the fishing sector and the manager of the environmental sector of the Province also participated. The trade associations and fishermen have complained and contested the inadequacy of the guidelines relating to the cormorant census currently being carried out by our provincial administration because the census, as set out in Annex 1 of Resolution 63/22, does not allow us to determine the real numbers of cormorants present in our lagoons under concession to fishermen and does not allow, consequently, to estimate the real economic damage suffered by operators in the sector”.
Surveys and censuses
"The current guidelines, as per the resolution of the Regional Council n. 63/22 of 15 December 2015, are about to expire and it seems more necessary than ever to consider a review that allows us to overcome this criticality. Compared to the bimonthly frequency and the five detections of the days indicated by the census", adds the extraordinary administrator of the Province of Oristano, "the fishermen are asking, immediately, for an increase in the monitoring days, a different articulation of the detection times and, in particular, the correction of the calculation foreseen for the monthly average of cormorants counted in fishing activities, because the current system produces an incorrect evaluation of the exact number of cormorants in fishing activities and does not determine the highly contested estimate of damages at all. The trade associations and the fishermen have underlined that the dissuasion plans have proven ineffective because the presence of cormorants is, at least, double or triple that of those counted in our lagoons, which represent 50% of the Sardinian ones. Among the reports, the loss of the workforce stands out, constantly decreasing as a result of the damage caused by the fish-eating fauna that feeds on a quantity of fish well above the estimated averages: in the periods outside of the small culls, the cormorants, up until the month of April before the resumption of migration, are even more voracious with consequent greater damage to the economic system of the lagoons, which allows 500 families to survive. Just to give an example, the Pontis Consortium has reported that the damage to the Cabras pond due to the predatory activity of the cormorants exceeds 2 million euros and the workforce has dropped from 350/400 to about 120 units and this also applies to all the other lagoon production systems”.
Cleaning the backdrops
“In the debate,” continues Battista Ghisu, “it was also pointed out that hydraulic maintenance should be guaranteed by the Region, owner of the lagoons, to safeguard the lagoon environments which are fragile in themselves and put in a very critical situation by silting, by the lack of water exchange, by the lack of cleaning of the seabed and canals and by climate change, factors which are further aggravating the damage to the entire economic system with continuous fish deaths. In light of all this, considering that you have only a few months ago taken on the role of regional councilor for Environmental Protection and trusting in your sensitivity, I ask you to be available to discuss with the trade associations, the fishermen and the IV Regional Commission, the various problems that I have presented to you. I am convinced that a true estimate of the cormorants and the resulting damage to the lagoons would lead to the same Sardinia Region to identify additional items in the budget. I believe that ascertaining the reality and the real problems of the sector is in everyone's interest. A new, positive approach to the problem would certainly allow for growth in the world of fish production and all the fishing communities of Sardinia, with the consequent protection of the unique lagoon environments and heritage of our land".
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