Depredation of commercial and recreational fisheries in a Danish fjord by cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis, Shaw

Abstract The conflict between the cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Shaw, and commercial and recreational fisheries was investigated in the foraging area of a cormorant colony of 5000 breeding pairs in Horsens Fjord, Denmark. Depredation of commercial pound nets was studied by stocking a large net pen with hatchery-reared rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss (Walbaum). When avian predation was precluded with a cover net, background mortality was around 15% day^-1. When the cover net was removed, mortality increased to 98% day^-1. Direct observation revealed that a flock of cormorants emptied the pound net in about 30 min, consuming 110 fish weighing a total of approximately 50 kg. The cormorants were able to catch trout weighing more than 1 kg, i.e. almost 50% of their own body weight. The impact of the cormorant colony on recreational fishing in the area was studied by stocking Carlin-tagged sea trout, Salmo trutta L., smolts into the two rivers that drain into the fjord. The cormorant colony lies between the river outlets and the open sea. Tag recovery from a 3-year programme was only about 2%, compared with about 10% for smolts stocked in areas of low cormorant density.