Lega regional councilors Manuela Puletti and Valerio Mancini are calling on the Regional Council to "authorize containment and selective culling measures to address the excessive presence of cormorants in Lake Trasimeno , in Umbria's reservoirs, and along Umbria's waterways." They have announced the submission of a question urging the Government to "consider the possibility of initiating the process for this authorization ." "In Umbria," Puletti and Mancini explain in a statement, "the excessive proliferation of cormorants is leading to an increasingly significant loss of fish available to lakeside fishing companies and fishermen.
Furthermore, the excrement of this species contains a parasite that, settling on the bottom of Lake Trasimeno, enters the life cycle of fish and significantly alters their health and behavior . The number of cormorants in Umbria has increased considerably recently and currently numbers six thousand individuals, now a sedentary species that nests annually on the shores of Lake Trasimeno. However, they are also present in other lakes , such as Faldo in Montone and Gatti in Narni, so much so that the problem has assumed regional proportions. EU legislation on the conservation of wild birds allows for exemptions to prevent serious damage to crops , livestock, forests, fisheries, and water.
National and regional regulations allow regions to implement species control measures, even in areas where hunting is prohibited, to protect their livestock, agricultural, forestry, and fisheries production . Indeed, some Italian regions, such as Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, and Liguria, experiencing the same problem, have initiated authorization procedures for the selective control of cormorants. Therefore, the League councilors conclude, " the implementation of containment and selective culling measures in Umbria is necessary and can no longer be postponed , to limit the damage cormorants are causing to the local economy and the balance of the ecosystem in which they have settled."
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