What does three years of hunting great cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo, tell us? Shooting autumn-staging birds as a means of reducing numbers locally.

Background: The population of great cormorants, Phalacrocorax carbo, has increased markedly in Europe in the last 30 years, creating conflicts primarily with fisheries' interests. Some advocate that there should be a reduction in bird numbers on anything from local to regional and pan-European levels. The effect of attempts to reduce cormorant numbers by shooting to kill and by shooting to reinforce the scaring of birds in two Danish fjords was studied.