then is generally reducing and in 2015 it was 3,850 which is still 5,4% of the European and 2% of the world's pygmy cormorant population. There were concerns that the building of the new Ada Bridge in 2008–12 would disturb the habitat, but the birds endured it well. Their habitat was protected by law in 2008. Any destruction, clearing or pruning of the vegetation is forbidden, so as scaring, disturbing or killing of the birds. In c. 1900, the last nests of yellow-legged gull in Serbia were spotted on Ada. The nesting couples are spotted again only in 2021, but in the Đerdap Gorge, some to the east. In April 2022, it was announced that plans are to declare Ada Ciganlija a protected area, as a landscape of outstanding features, by the end of 2022. It will cover . Settlements Partizan The only settlement on Ada Ciganlija is in its northern section, located behind another dam. It is called Partizan, because of the nearby Partizan rowing club. First stilt houses were built right after World War II as the summer houses for the army officers. In 1959 the construction of the propper settlement was suggested, and the first houses were built in 1960. Those were small, serial weekend houses with an area of . Most of the original construction was finished from 1964 to 1966. As the nearby Ada Safari wasn't adapted yet and was a marshland, original settlers, who were from the upper classes, were leaving and instead the workers who migrated from the interior of Serbia settled in. During the various works on Ada Ciganlija, workers would use the houses as tool sheds. Additional boost was an influx of refugees from the Yugoslav Wars since 1991. City authorities planned to relocate the settlement. During the 2006 European floods, city authorities urged them to move to the mainland from the settlement, which was located almost below the dam, as the Sava reached a record height of . The wall of the dam, on the brink of collapse, was hastily strengthened and elevated in an effort to prevent catastrophe, but even in these conditions, the populace refused to relocate, claiming the city to just be using the situation to relocate them. As their families grew, inhabitants expanded the houses. As of 2016 Partizan had some 1,000 inhabitants in 260 houses covering an area of . By the latest urbanistic plans,