Irkutsk region authorities have launched a mass cull of cormorants, complaining that the birds are eating too much fish.

Conversations about the cormorant overpopulation have been going on for seven years now. The main complaint is the destruction of the Baikal omul. According to some estimates, flocks of birds consume around 700 tons of this fish in just one season.

At the end of March, the Irkutsk regional government finally approved A plan to reduce the great cormorant population is underway. Officials are proposing that hunters donate their dead birds to pet food producers. Companies that take this step are promised preferential loans and free advertising.

Nest destruction is also encouraged.

Environmentalists, however, doubt in the effectiveness of such measures.

First of all, cormorant hunting remains prohibited in federally protected natural areas. This means that cormorant control efforts in Lake Baikal, home to the omul, will be kept to a minimum.

Also, the official documents say nothing about reimbursing the costs of hunters and nest destroyers: officials only hint that the financing could be provided by companies engaged in industrial fishing (they are the ones complaining about competition from cormorants).

Great cormorants live in schools along the shores of bodies of water. In search of fish, they can dive to depths of up to four meters and hold their breath for 40 seconds.

The population was on the verge of extinction after the Great Patriotic War, when residents Buryatia и Irkutsk region Even conditionally edible birds were eaten. Until 2014, cormorants were listed as endangered.