Jūrmala Introduces ‘Passive Seagull Tax’ After Birds Found Owning Majority of Outdoor Café Seating
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At a Glance: Municipal officials in Jūrmala have unveiled a new seasonal tax aimed at seagulls who, according to a recent audit, occupy 63% of premium terrace seating without purchasing so much as a mineral water. City leaders say the measure is necessary to restore balance between human diners and increasingly confident coastal birds.
JŪRMALA — In what officials are calling a “modest and overdue correction to the local hospitality market,” the Jūrmala City Council voted Tuesday to introduce a Passive Seagull Tax, a municipal fee levied against what it describes as “non-paying avian entities deriving measurable lifestyle benefit from private-sector seating infrastructure.”
The measure follows a six-week study conducted by the Department of Seasonal Order, which found that seagulls had established de facto control over 63% of first-row outdoor café chairs along Jomas Street and the Dzintari promenade between 11:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The report, based on 2,700 observation hours and 418 documented incidents of aggressive staring, concluded that many birds were “using posture, wing width, and implied ownership” to discourage paying customers from sitting down.
“This is not a war on wildlife,” Deputy Mayor Ilze Skujiņa told reporters while standing beside a laminated chart labeled ‘Chair Capture Dynamics.’ “This is about fairness. If a family from Sigulda wants to enjoy a €9 pistachio napoleon in peace, they should not have to negotiate table access with a gull named by staff as ‘The Chairman.’”
Under the new rules, cafés will be permitted to issue symbolic invoices to seagulls occupying a seat for longer than seven minutes without consuming a registered product. If payment is not received within 30 days, the debt will be transferred to what the city described as “the general migratory account.” While officials acknowledged that enforcement remains technically difficult, they insisted the tax has a strong deterrent function.
“We do not expect immediate cash compliance,” said municipal economist Mārtiņš Veldre, who helped design the policy. “But taxation is also about sending a message. Historically, once an animal understands paperwork exists, behavior changes.”
Local business owners have largely welcomed the announcement. At Café Banga, manager Evija Lapiņa said the birds had become “strategically bold” this summer, often arriving in groups of three: one to distract customers, one to seize pastry, and one to stand motionless on a chair “like a regional landlord.”
“We had a German tourist place his linen hat on a free seat for two minutes,” Lapiņa said. “A gull moved it to the ground and took the place. Honestly, the confidence was almost inspiring.”
Not everyone supports the tax. The Baltic Ornithological Mediation Forum issued a statement arguing that the birds are being scapegoated for broader structural problems, including overdesigned terraces, underprotected anchovy supplies, and what it called “the continued visual provocation of open-faced sandwiches.”
Senior gull behavior researcher Dr. Rūdolfs Bērziņš noted that Jūrmala’s seagulls have adapted rapidly to modern leisure culture. “They understand timing, eye contact, and weekend pricing,” he said. “Several specimens appear to recognize when a customer has ordered fries but is emotionally too polite to defend them.”
To ease implementation, the city will begin a pilot program next week in which beach wardens place miniature QR codes on selected chair backs. Officials stressed that the codes are mostly ceremonial, though one councillor said early mock-ups had already “introduced a welcome atmosphere of accountability.”
As of Wednesday morning, the first recorded response from the seagull population appeared to be a coordinated theft of six smoked sprats, one child’s waffle, and a receipt printer cable from a kiosk near Majori station.
City leaders described the incident as regrettable but encouraging.
“When stakeholders react this quickly,” Deputy Mayor Skujiņa said, “it means the policy discussion has begun.”