Cormorant Watch

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The Angling Trust has launched a new web site for us and our fishing friends to record sightings of cormorants, goosanders and mergansers throughout the UK. This includes a short video message from Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd introducing this new initiative.
The new site at www.cormorantwatch.org is easy to use - it takes less than a minute to record your sighting.

Don't forget to bookmark the site, keep your eyes peeled and come back every time you want to report a sighting.

The Angling Trust succeeded in persuading the Fisheries Minister Richard Benyon to carry out a review of the cormorant licensing procedure and he has stated that he is prepared to take "bold decisions". As part of this review, the Trust needs data on the abundance of cormorants to convince the government to take decisive action. So now it's your turn - go to www.cormorantwatch.org and make a difference.

Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd commented "This is a moment when anglers need to stand up and be counted to persuade politicians to simplify licensing procedures and allow greater controls on cormorant numbers - a decision which could affect the future of fishing for the next generation. All anglers who see one of these birds in the next few months must make the effort to visit cormorantwatch.org and put a pin in the map, whether they are a member of the Angling Trust or not."

We should all use this everytime we see a cormorant

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Just put a pin in the map - River Wear, Durham. Read about this site last week in the Angling Times - lets hope it helps tackle the problem.

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It can only help. But it needs ALL of us to report EVERY sighting. This is going to be the data that the government use to decide whether or not there is a cormorant problem!