Govt policy bans goose hunting.
Govt policy to control over population is to pay someone to kill them.
This is not true - farmers have had the right to shoot geese on their own land for years in The Netherlands. More recently - they have been able to allow other hunters on their land with nuisance permits. It is a complicated process involving government inspectors coming to verify crop damage is present before permits are issued - but hunting is allowed.
I spent a week there back in February shooting greylags and barnacle geese primarily. There are also Canada geese, Egyptian geese and a few specks - but most of the shooting is greylags and barnacles. It was not extremely high volume (fall shooting is typically better with uneducated birds) - but most hunters would shoot 5 to 15 geese per person per half-day shoot. Regulations are strict and the guide basically has to carry a 3" notebook full of permits for each field he is allowed to hunt. Certain species are allowed or prohibited on certain fields depending on what the inspector decided was causing crop damage. The most liberal laws are in the airport zone where you can use automatic callers (radio). The geese work to these callers extremely well.
Very politically diverse views in this country with many people being against hunting - but farmers MUST shoot birds if they want to harvest their fields. Great trip for anyone interested in waterfowl hunting. Interestingly enough despite the strict regulations - if you are allowed to hunt a particular species in a given field - there are never any limits on how many birds can be harvested. Secondly - it is legal to sell geese for profit. Virtually all of our birds were sold to restaurants for about 3 euros each.
A couple pictures below:
