Birds: Pest Control
(asked on 5th November 2024) - View Source
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many licences to shoot avian predators were issued in total in each of the past 5 years, broken down by species and catchments or rivers; and how this compares with the number of applications.
Answered by
Baroness Hayman of Ullock
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
The number of licence applications received to shoot avian predators over the last five years is set out in the table below:
Year received | Number of apps received | Number of licences issued |
2023 | 494 | 518* |
2022 | 469 | 406 |
2021 | 554 | 408 |
2020 | 508 | 422 |
2019 | 563 | 463 |
*Due to licences being issued across an 8 month season which straddles years, more licences can be issued than received given any one year.
River and catchment data cannot be prepared within the timescale for response.
The number of licences issued to shoot avian predators in each of the past five years, broken down by species, is set out below:
Year | Licence Purpose: | Species | Total |
2023 | Preventing serious damage to fisheries or inland waters, under section 16(1)(k) | Cormorant | 439 |
Cormorant and Goosander | 11 | ||
Goosander | 39 | ||
Grey heron | 29 | ||
| 518 |
Year | Licence Purpose: | Species | Total |
2022 | Preventing serious damage to fisheries or inland waters, under section 16(1)(k) | Cormorant | 370 |
Cormorant and Goosander | 1 | ||
Goosander | 17 | ||
Grey heron | 18 | ||
| 406 |
Year | Licence Purpose: | Species | Total |
2021 | Preventing serious damage to fisheries or inland waters, under section 16(1)(k) | Cormorant | 355 |
Cormorant and Goosander | 5 | ||
Goosander | 24 | ||
Grey heron | 24 | ||
| 408 |
Year | Licence Purpose: | Species | Total |
2020 | Preventing serious damage to fisheries or inland waters, under section 16(1)(k) | Cormorant | 371 |
Goosander | 23 | ||
Grey heron | 28 | ||
| 422 |
Year | Licence Purpose: | Species | Total |
2019 | Preventing serious damage to fisheries or inland waters, under section 16(1)(k) | Cormorant | 405 |
Goosander | 24 | ||
Grey heron | 34 | ||
| 463 |
This data has been taken from the Transparency data published by Natural England located here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summary-of-wildlife-licences-issued-by-natural-england-in-2023