.Paul_Gerritsen

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Phalacrocorax carbo or Great Cormorant or Black Shag or Kawau or Aalscholver (in Duthch). Many fishermen see in the Cormorant a competitor for fish. Because of this it was nearly hunted to extinction in the past. Thanks to conservation efforts its numbers increased. At the moment there are about 450,000 breeding birds in Western Europe. Increasing populations have once again brought the cormorant into conflict with fisheries, for example, in the UK where inland breeding was once uncommon, there are now increasing numbers of birds breeding inland and many inland fish farms and fisheries now claim to be suffering high losses due to these birds. In the UK each year some licences are issued to shoot specified numbers of cormorants in order to help reduce predation, it is however still illegal to kill a bird without such a licence. Chinese fishermen sometimes tie fishing line around the throats of cormorants, tight enough to prevent swallowing, and deploy them from small boats. The cormorants "eat" fish without being able to fully swallow them, and the fishermen are able to retrieve the fish simply by forcing open the cormorants' mouths, apparently engaging the regurgitation reflex. In North Norway, cormorants are traditonally seen as semi-sacred. It is regarded as good luck to have cormorants gather near your village or settlement. An old legend states that people who die far out at sea, their bodies never recovered, spend eternity on the island Utrøst - which can only occassionally be found by mortals. The inhabitants of Utrøst can only visit their homes in the shape of cormorants. In Holland they are fast become a plague. But they are fascinating to see. Just look at those eyes or should I say diving glasses?