The Committee on the Environment and Agriculture has for some time been dealing with the issue of fish stocks in the Baltic Sea and how it can be saved.
Of the measures proposed in the committee’s initiative is increased hunting for cormorants. The committee notes in its announcement to the government that the measures taken so far to facilitate culling are insufficient in relation to the amount of cormorants.
Chasing cormorants
The cormorant population has grown strongly in recent years, which puts a strain on an already crowded fish stock in the Baltic Sea. Not least herring, which is also squeezed by industrial trawling.
The committee majority therefore believes that the government can go further and partly allow general culling on its own initiative and partly investigate the possibilities of general hunting time for cormorants.
When the committee’s work on the issue began, both S and MP were against this. Then came the Social Democrats’ party congress.
There, a motion was passed for increased hunting of cormorants. This meant that the Social Democrats in the Committee on the Environment and Agriculture had to change their footing and support the demand for increased hunting.
The Green Party has reservations about the committee majority’s call for the government, which now has the delicate task of agreeing internally.
The committee’s report is the result of five different proposals for initiatives from an equal number of parties.
Increase seal hunting
In addition to cormorant hunting, a majority in the committee proposes that the Parliament should urge the government to increase the hunting of seals and make it easier for sellers to hunt.
The Government will also work to ensure that the trawl limit is moved out on a trial basis and limit the trawl fishing that can take place inside the border. It should be possible to make exceptions for small-scale fishing.
The government is proposed to ensure that Sweden participates more actively in regional bodies and organizations that are set to care for fish stocks.
