Fish-eating birds: licence to protect your fishery (A06 and A07)
Source: gov.uk (2025-08-06)

Apply for a licence to kill or take fish-eating birds causing significant damage to a fishery, and report your actions.

You can apply for this licence to kill or take wild birds if there’s no other satisfactory way to prevent serious damage to your fishery or inland waters.

This licence applies to:
- cormorants
- goosanders
- mergansers
- herons
For a group of fisheries, there’s a separate licence to control cormorants causing serious damage within a defined area or catchment (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cormorants-licence-to-kill-or-take-them-to-prevent-damage-to-fisheries).

There’s also a separate licence to protect fisheries from damage by otters (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/otters-licence-to-capture-and-transport-those-trapped-in-fisheries-to-prevent-damage).

Before you start your application for a licence

You will not be able to save your application part way through and return to it later, so make sure you have all the information you need available before you start.

You will need to provide details of:
- the purpose of your application
- methods of non-lethal control you have tried
- the problem you’re experiencing and the impact on your fishery
- any previous applications
- the species, numbers, location and dates of proposed licensable actions
- names and addresses of any authorised individuals you want to add to your licence
- wildlife convictions for anyone named on the licence
You must submit supporting evidence with your application, including:
- a log of non-lethal actions you have tried, covering a period of at least one month before your application
- evidence of the damage that’s happened or is likely to happen
Apply for a licence

Use the online service to apply for a licence to take or kill fish-eating birds that are causing serious damage to a fishery.

Apply for a licence (https://submit-form-to-defra.service.gov.uk/form/apply-for-a-licence-to-protect-your-fishery-from-fish-eating-birds)

What happens next

We’ll send you an email to let you know the outcome of your application. We only send licence decisions within the licensable period for the bird species that you’re applying for.

The licensable period start and end dates are normally:
- 1 September to 15 April for cormorants - this can be extended until May for protecting smolt runs
- 16 September to 28 February for grey herons
- 16 September to 31 March for goosanders and mergansers - this can be extended until May for protecting smolt runs
If you apply:
- within the licensable period, you’ll usually get a licensing decision within 30 working days
- outside of the licensable period, you’ll usually be sent a licensing decision at the start of the next licensable period
Report your actions or renew your licence

You must use the ‘Report an action taken to protect fisheries from fish-eating birds’ online service to report to Natural England action taken under your licence.

You have until 14 days after the licence expires to submit the report, even if you have not taken any action.

If you do not submit a report, Natural England may revoke (cancel) your licence and refuse future applications.

You can also use the report form to request to renew your licence.

Report your actions (https://submit-form-to-defra.service.gov.uk/form/report-an-action-taken-to-protect-fisheries-from-fish-eating-birds)

Get help

Contact the Natural England wildlife licensing team if you need help with:
- applying for a licence
- renewing a licence
- reporting actions you’ve taken under your licence
Natural England

Email xxx@xxx.xx (mailto:xxx@xxx.xx)

Telephone: xx-xxxx-xxxx (find out about call charges (https://www.gov.uk/call-charges))