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EIFAAC Published Framework for Coordinated European Great Cormorant Management

Great cormorant swimming on green water
Conservation · Management

The European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission (EIFAAC) published its Framework for a European Management Plan for the great cormorant on 28 May 2026. The document sets out a coordinated, science-based approach for managing conflicts involving great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), fish populations, fisheries and aquaculture across Europe.

The framework is designed to balance the continued favourable conservation status of great cormorants with protection of aquatic biodiversity and fish stocks, as well as the social and economic interests of fisheries and aquaculture. EIFAAC describes it as an adaptive process rather than a single fixed set of control measures.

A five-step management process

The framework lays out five broad stages. These begin with assessing cormorant–fish interactions, economic effects and policy objectives, followed by formulating possible management measures and choosing a course of action. The fourth stage covers implementation, monitoring, cross-border cooperation and compensation for fisheries and aquaculture losses where applicable. The fifth stage is evaluation and adjustment as new information becomes available.

The document also provides for structured stakeholder participation and proposes a Cormorant Management Advisory Group to supply scientific, ecological, social and economic advice. Its intended tasks include harmonising monitoring and reporting, assessing cormorant and fish population trends, and supporting coordinated management between countries.

Published framework, but formal EIFAAC endorsement was still pending

Publication of the framework did not mean that EIFAAC had already formally endorsed it as an adopted management framework. EIFAAC later stated that its members were expected to consider endorsement of the framework and the formal establishment of the advisory group at the commission’s October 2026 session. This institutional endorsement is separate from whether individual management measures are legally binding under European or national law.

Great cormorants are highly mobile and cross national borders, while fish stocks, fisheries and aquaculture interests are managed through many different national systems. The 2026 framework provides a common structure for monitoring, decision-making and adaptation across countries while explicitly retaining conservation of the bird species as part of the management objective.

Sources and image credit

  1. European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission. (2026). Framework for a European Management Plan for the great cormorant. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. https://doi.org/10.4060/cd9739enPrimary pan-European management framework published 28 May 2026. It sets out an adaptive five-step process intended to balance great cormorant conservation with aquatic biodiversity, fish populations, fisheries and aquaculture.
  2. European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission. (2026, July 14). EIFAAC advances preparations for European Cormorant Management Advisory Group.Official follow-up confirming that formal endorsement of the framework and establishment of the advisory group were still expected to be considered at the October 2026 EIFAAC session.

Image: Pavel Sirotkin (Piramidon) / Wikimedia Commons — great cormorant photographed on water on 28 April 2022; representative species image, not an image from the EIFAAC framework · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source

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