Cormorant - The Black Viking
The cormorants were settled to nest on the cost of Finland only just the year 1996. Now there are
In the early 20th century, the cormorants were disappearing fast because of the over-hunting. The effective conservation revived the population. The number of the cormorants was growing in the special preservers in Holland and in the 1980s they began to spread in the Baltic Sea. During the past few years, the growth of the cormorant population has been the fastest in the Archipelago Sea. Cormorant is a protected species.
Inhabitants of the ghost island
The cormorants are nesting in the large colonies on the islands and islets. Nesting areas of the cormorants may look ghost-like with the dead trees and the faeces covering all the vegetation. The main concern and discussion around the cormorants have been the possible decrease in value of the growing stock and property and the lessening of the comfort.
Large, only fish eating bird like cormorant is not making fishermen happy. The main nutriment of the cormorant is however fish of the minor economic value, like roach. On the other hand, it has been discovered that cormorants rob fish from the fishing nets and fish farms harming them on the way.
The appearance of the cormorant benefits some vegetation and bird species in the Archipelago Sea. The community of cormorants keeps the small predators away and provides the peaceful nesting area for the other birds.
Haunted cormorants
Cormorants have been faced with a reasonable amount of resistance during their short living period in the Archipelago Sea. There has been for example a lot of destroying the nests and distracting cormorants nesting. Cormorants do not usually like to live near people, but many times because of the harassment, it has been forced to spread in the new nesting areas closer to people.
According to the research, the impacts of the cormorants are not that remarkable. However, in Finland is prepared the cull management plan if sometimes it seems to be necessary to interfere with the growth of the cormorant population.
More information:
Cormorant populations still growing in the Archipelago Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia
Cormorant population grew by more than fifty percent from last year
INTERCAFE: Interdisciplinary Initiative to Reduce Pan-European Cormorant-Fisheries Conflicts
