What Is It?
An A06 licence is an individual licence issued by Natural England under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. It authorises the licence holder to kill or take a specified number of cormorants to prevent serious damage to a fishery or inland waters.
Cormorants are a protected species. You cannot shoot, trap, or disturb them without a valid licence. The A06 exists because Natural England recognises that cormorant predation can cause genuine, measurable harm to fish stocks — but the burden of proof is on you to demonstrate it.
The licence is free of charge and typically valid from 1 September to 15 April (the cormorant licensable season). You must report all actions taken under the licence within 14 days of expiry, even if you took no action.
It's Not Just About Shooting
An A06 licence is a last resort, not a first step. Natural England expects you to demonstrate a sustained, multi-method approach to non-lethal deterrence before they will consider lethal control. The most successful applicants combine habitat management, physical barriers, visual and acoustic deterrents, and pattern-of-life monitoring — with lethal control only to reinforce scaring where non-lethal methods alone have proven insufficient. Explore habitat improvement ideas in the HydroLibrary — planting bankside cover, installing refuge areas, and managing water depth can all reduce predation pressure naturally.
Follow these steps from first identifying the problem through to receiving your approved licence.
Hydroscape provides free tools at every stage marked with ●
Step 1 — Identify the Problem Free Tool
You've noticed cormorants visiting your fishery regularly and suspect they're taking fish. Before anything else, you need to start recording every sighting — dates, times, numbers, behaviour, and location. This is the foundation of your entire application. Natural England won't consider anecdotal claims; they need structured, timestamped data.
Report a Cormorant Sighting — FreeStep 2 — Gather Photographic Evidence Free Tool
Photograph cormorants on your water every time you see them. Include shots showing the number of birds, their activity (perching, diving, feeding), and any visible damage (dead or injured fish, faeces on banks/platforms). Hydroscape's AI-powered sighting form verifies species, counts birds automatically, and geo-tags every submission with GPS coordinates.
Upload Photo Evidence — FreeStep 3 — Implement Non-Lethal Deterrents Free Tool
Natural England requires evidence of at least one month of non-lethal deterrent activity before you apply. Methods include: human disturbance patrols, auditory deterrents (gas guns, distress calls), visual deterrents (laser pens, predator decoys, reflective tape), physical barriers (overhead lines, netting), and habitat management. You must log every action with dates, methods, duration, and effectiveness.
Log Deterrent Actions — FreeStep 4 — Consider Habitat Management
Alongside deterrents, consider whether changes to your fishery could reduce cormorant predation naturally. Planting dense bankside vegetation, creating refuge areas with submerged structure, maintaining adequate water depth, and installing fish refuges can all make your water less attractive to cormorants — and strengthen your application by showing Natural England you've explored every satisfactory alternative.
Explore Habitat Ideas in HydroLibrary — FreeStep 5 — Document the Damage Free Tool
You need clear evidence that serious damage has occurred or is likely to occur. This means: fish stock losses (by species and size), financial impact, reduced catch returns, damage to fish health (stress, injuries), and visible predation events. Your Hydroscape sighting data feeds directly into the national evidence dashboard, giving you a data-rich view of predation pressure on your site over time.
View Your Data on the Live Map — FreeStep 6 — Record Wider Biodiversity Free Tool
Demonstrating that you care about the whole ecosystem — not just cormorants — significantly strengthens your application. Log sightings of other species on your water: kingfishers, herons, otters, invertebrates, aquatic plants. This shows Natural England you understand the ecological context and are acting responsibly within a balanced approach to wildlife management.
Log Wildlife Sightings — FreeStep 7 — Compile Your Application Free Tool
This is where Hydroscape's A06 Master Builder comes in. Our dedicated application builder tool pulls together all of your sighting records, photographic evidence, deterrent logs, and biodiversity data into a single, structured licence application — formatted exactly the way Natural England expects. No spreadsheets, no guesswork, no missed fields. Contact us and we'll set you up with portal access to compile your application at no cost.
Request A06 Builder Access — FreeStep 8 — Submit to Natural England
With your structured application ready, submit it online through the GOV.UK service. You'll need: the species, numbers, location, and dates of proposed licensable actions; details of non-lethal methods tried; evidence of damage; names and addresses of any authorised individuals; and wildlife conviction declarations. Your A06 Master Builder output covers most of this automatically.
Apply on GOV.UKStep 9 — Wait for the Decision
If you apply within the licensable period (1 Sep – 15 Apr for cormorants), Natural England typically issues a decision within 30 working days. If you apply outside the season, you'll receive a decision at the start of the next licensable period. Continue your deterrent activities and sighting records while you wait — this strengthens your position and demonstrates ongoing commitment.
Step 10 — Licence Approved — Report & Renew
Once approved, you must operate strictly within the licence terms — species, numbers, dates, methods, and named individuals. Within 14 days of expiry, you must report all actions taken (including if you took no action). Failure to report can result in licence revocation and refused future applications. You can request renewal at the same time as reporting.
Report Actions on GOV.UKThere are two types of A06 licence. Understanding the difference is important for choosing the right route:
| A06 — Site Licence | A06a — Area Licence | |
|---|---|---|
| Scope | Covers a single fishery or site | Covers a group of fisheries within a defined catchment or area |
| Applicant | Individual fishery owner/manager | Coordinating body (e.g. angling club, rivers trust, catchment partnership) |
| Evidence | Sighting data and deterrent logs from your site only | Aggregated data from all sites in the area, plus a management plan (A06b) and site appendices (A06c) |
| Best For | Single lake, pond, or stretch of river | Multiple fisheries, angling clubs, or river catchments working together |
| Advantage | Simpler application, single-site data | Stronger evidence base, coordinated management, higher impact |
Working Together Is Stronger
If there are other fisheries in your catchment experiencing cormorant predation, consider applying together under an A06a area-based licence. The aggregated evidence from multiple sites is significantly more compelling to Natural England than isolated applications — and Hydroscape's national sighting database makes it easy to demonstrate catchment-wide predation patterns. Contact us and we can help coordinate an area-based approach at no cost.
The National Cap
There is currently a national cap of 3,000 cormorants that can be killed under A06 licences across the whole of England in any one year. Campaigns by the Angling Trust and others to add cormorants to the general licence — which would allow control without individual applications — have been repeatedly rejected by government.
That cap will not change without evidence. Natural England and Defra set policy based on the data available to them. If fisheries don't apply for A06 licences, the official record suggests the problem isn't serious enough to warrant action. Every application that isn't submitted is a voice that isn't heard.
Your Application Is More Than a Licence
Even if your individual licence permits the taking of just 5 or 10 birds, your application itself is a data point. It tells Natural England that cormorant predation is causing serious damage at a real site, backed by real evidence. The more fisheries that apply with strong, structured data, the stronger the case becomes for reviewing the national cap, revising policy, and giving inland fisheries the protection they need. Not applying means not being counted.
Natural England's five tests for issuing a licence all require evidence. Anecdotal claims — "there are loads of cormorants and they eat all the fish" — will not result in a licence. Here's what they actually need:
Structured Sighting Records
Dates, times, GPS locations, bird counts, observed behaviour (perching, diving, feeding, roosting), and weather conditions. Every Hydroscape sighting report captures all of this automatically.
Photographic Verification
Time-stamped, geo-tagged photographs of cormorants on your water. Hydroscape's AI analyses each image for species confirmation, automatic bird counts, and subspecies indicators.
Non-Lethal Deterrent Logs
A minimum of one month's continuous deterrent logging showing dates, methods used, duration, and effectiveness rating. The HydroDeter tool generates licence-ready reports automatically.
Evidence of Serious Damage
Fish stock assessments, catch return data, financial loss estimates, photographs of predation damage. The more specific and quantified, the stronger your case.
Ecological Context
Biodiversity records showing the wider ecosystem health of your site. This demonstrates responsible stewardship and strengthens the "no satisfactory alternative" test.
No Data = No Licence
This is the single most important message in this guide. Without structured, timestamped, evidence-backed data, your application will be refused. The earlier you start recording, the stronger your position when you apply. Even if you don't plan to apply this season, start building your evidence base now — it will be there when you need it.
Hydroscape-Group provides every tool you need to build a successful A06 application — completely free of charge for all clubs, fisheries, and conservation groups. No subscriptions, no hidden costs, no strings attached.
We believe that access to evidence-based tools should never be a barrier to protecting your fishery.
Onsite Consultation
If you'd like hands-on support, we offer an onsite consultation service. We'll visit your fishery, walk the banks with you, assess cormorant activity patterns, review your current deterrent setup, identify habitat improvements, and help you build the strongest possible evidence base for your A06 application.
All digital tools remain completely free regardless. The consultation is entirely optional — many fisheries successfully build their evidence base using our free online tools alone.
Need Help With Your Application?
Whether you're a single fishery or a group of clubs looking at an area-based licence, we can help you build your evidence base and navigate the process — completely free.
Know Your Cormorant — Subspecies Guide
Understand the difference between the Atlantic and Continental subspecies, and why it matters for your A06 application. Read the free guide →
HydroLibrary — Species & Habitat Database
497 species with conservation status, identification guides, and habitat management ideas to strengthen your ecological evidence. Explore HydroLibrary →
Natural England A06 Guidance
The official GOV.UK guidance on applying for an A06 licence to protect your fishery from fish-eating birds. Read on GOV.UK →