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European Commission Replaced Its 2013 Guidance on Great Cormorant Derogations

Great cormorant perched on a rock beside water in France
Conservation: Management, Human–wildlife conflict

The European Commission published new guidance on 31 July 2026 on how Article 9 of the Birds Directive can be applied in conflicts involving Great Cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo). Annex II of the Commission Notice explicitly replaces and updates the separate cormorant guidance published in 2013.

Derogations still require three Article 9 conditions

The document does not remove Great Cormorants from the Birds Directive’s general protection system. Member States may derogate from the normal prohibitions only when three conditions are met: there is no other satisfactory solution, one of the permitted reasons in Article 9 applies, and the technical requirements in Article 9(2) are fulfilled.

The guidance covers both non-lethal and lethal measures

The cormorant annex describes non-lethal options such as scaring birds and excluding them from fisheries and says alternatives must be assessed before derogations are justified. Where the Article 9 conditions are satisfied, it also discusses measures including shooting, limited lethal control, egg oiling and removal of nests or eggs. General authorisations can be possible when the formal conditions are met and the justification is clearly specified.

Member States do not need to consult the Commission before granting derogations, but they must report them annually. The guidance also says management must not reduce the Great Cormorant population and range to a level where it is no longer viable or maintained satisfactorily.

The Commission Notice is guidance, not new law

The 2026 document is interpretative guidance, not new binding legislation. The Commission states that it does not create new legal obligations and that only the Court of Justice of the European Union can give authoritative interpretations of EU law. Its role is to update the Commission’s guidance for authorities applying the existing Birds Directive.

Sources and image credit

  1. European Commission. (2026). Commission Notice — Guidance document on the general system of protection of bird species — Article 5 and Article 9 of the Birds Directive. C/2026/4094.Official Commission Notice. Annex II explicitly replaces and updates the 2013 Great Cormorant guidance. It explains the three Article 9 conditions, alternatives, possible derogation measures, reporting and monitoring, while stating that the guidance is not legally binding and creates no new legal obligations.

Image: Alexis Lours — wild Great Cormorant on a rock in Gennevilliers, France, 6 August 2021. Source: Wikimedia Commons / Flickr. CC BY 2.0. Representative species image. · CC BY 2.0 · Source

About this content: This story was produced with AI assistance within an editorial workflow developed by Wildlife Vagabond. Editorial responsibility remains with Wildlife Vagabond.How AI is used

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