Kunter Tätte: New cormorant study contains statistical errors

Kunter Tätte, bird protection specialist at the Estonian Ornithological Society, has found that the authors of a cormorant study recently featured in Novaator made serious statistical errors. According to Tätte, the study does not provide a reliable basis for assessing the impact of cormorants on other bird species.

Kunter Tätte, bird protection specialist at the Estonian Ornithological Society, has raised objections to an article published recently on the science news portal Novaator, which featured a cormorant study led by Lauri Saks. In Tätte's view, the authors of the research have made serious errors in their statistical interpretations, which cast doubt on the study's overall conclusions.

Tätte points out that the methodological shortcomings are so significant that it is actually impossible to reliably assess, on the basis of the study's data, what impact cormorants have on other bird species in the vicinity of Estonia's water bodies. The rise in cormorant populations has long been a contentious issue among fishermen, nature conservationists, and scientists alike.

Cormorants have provoked conflicting opinions in Estonia for decades. Fishermen accuse them of destroying fish stocks, while bird conservationists emphasise that these are naturally occurring species whose populations should not be curtailed without justification. In such circumstances, it is especially important that scientific research on which political decisions are based meets the strictest methodological standards.

In his rebuttal, Tätte stresses that the correction of statistical errors is essential before the study's findings are used to inform bird conservation or fisheries policy. The Estonian Ornithological Society calls on the research team to review their data analysis and make corrections so that the conclusions drawn are scientifically sound.