Fight against cormorants: Drone deployment planned on Lake Constance

Langenargen/Stuttgart. Drones will be deployed early next year in the fight against the cormorant, a notorious fish predator. A prototype of a modified agricultural drone has been successfully tested, according to the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture in Stuttgart. The drone will be used to oil the eggs of tree-nesting cormorants in their nests.

"The first pilot trials are to be conducted in a cormorant colony on Lake Constance at the beginning of 2026," the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture in Stuttgart announced. The hunting bird is a protected species throughout the EU.

The modified agricultural drone has a boom designed to spray the eggs in cormorant nests in trees with oil. The oil coating prevents the eggs from developing, thus reducing breeding success.

Technical feasibility has already been confirmed, a prototype has been built, and a first test flight has been conducted. "Trials within the framework of the planned project will show whether the application will also be successful in practice," said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Agriculture.

The drone flies up into the treetops in the fight against cormorants.

Source: -/Weber Agrar Robotik GmbH via A

According to authorities, the colony where the first trial will take place has not yet been determined. The use of drones will also depend on the number of breeding cormorants and other factors in the coming year. The project will end in December 2028.

According to experts, one of these dark migratory birds can consume a good half a kilogram of fish a day. This is why professional fishermen, in particular, have problems with this animal.

According to the Baden-Württemberg Fisheries Research Center, the number of cormorants continues to rise. Conservationists oppose systematic culling or other deterrent measures, but many experts and fishermen advocate for them. Comprehensive cormorant management is underway.

A cormorant eats half a kilogram of fish a day.

Source: IMAGO/Westend61

The drone deployment is part of a project of the International Lake Constance Conference (IBK). According to the Ministry of Agriculture, the campaign aimed at stopping the hunting bird is called "Fish Species Conservation and Cormorant Management on Lake Constance." The approach to combating the cormorant consists of various components, including shooting.

A so-called cormorant management scheme, which could apply around Lake Constance, has long been discussed. This has involved a dialogue process involving dozens of individual discussions, forums, and countless consensus statements. The measures now planned are also based on this process.

The expert panel involved in the planning process included representatives from all neighboring countries. They came from, for example, nature conservation, fisheries, and hunting authorities, as well as from nature conservation and fisheries associations.

From the perspective of the Ministry of the Environment, the protection of fish species in Lake Constance and its tributaries is an ongoing challenge in the cross-border management of the cormorant.

RND/dpa