Cormorants

[manonthemoon]

Do you ever come across these fish eating machines?

A hunting group is going to cull an area on Manitoulin island this spring.

An adult Cormorant can eat up to thirty Lbs. of fish a day.

What do you think?

I hope your group has checked the regulations.

By the way, how large are these birds that eat 30#s of fish per day?

Allan

[This message has been edited by tyeflies (edited 10 February 2005).]

[Spud]

Yes, as long as it's legal...go for it!!!

They are protected in many places here...but in special cases measures have been taken.

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"If firearms cause crimes and kill people, all of the ones I have must be defective."

[Jed]

When it comes to managing the balance of nature, the best thing man can do is leave it to nature to balance.

I see cormorants on the water alot. Nice bird, doing its job.

jed

[D. Micus]

i've always liked them--especially the way they will land in the middle of a blitz and dive right down and feed with the fish. also the way they dry their wings by standing stiff and spreading them.

[manonthemoon]

It's not my group that is planning this cull. It would be illegal.

It's the people that make their living from the fishing industry on Manitoulin Island.

I think they are a very distructive bird, their excrement can permanently defoliate trees and we have lost their natural predators.

When in a large group they corral the fish, then take turns diving in to feed.

Pete

[Spud]

In many places, they can be very destructive when overpopulated. If not overpopulated in that area, I wouldn't worry about it. Unless it has impacted the population of fish in the area, I would leave them alone for the moment.

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"If firearms cause crimes and kill people, all of the ones I have must be defective."

[manonthemoon]

I just finished reading the U.S. Fish &

wildlife Services finial environmental impact

statement. It sounds like the southern U.S.

has the same problem as the Great Lakes region.

Pete

[pharper]

Nothing like killing off a migratory bird to make you feel better about saving a fishery. The birds do impact a area and it is really noticable around their rooks but are they really the problem facing the fishery?

Because the birds are migratory they could be said to belong to Canada and the USA. Regulations are in effect to control populations that live on both sides of the border. While the population may seem high in one area, all of those birds may spread out at the other end of there range. Killing part of a rookery may completely remove a population from another part of the continent.

A better solution would be to stop building roads and culverts that block fish migrations, stop throwing rock along the banks that prevents vegetation, stop paving the watersheds and dumping chemicals in the water, and etc... y'all get the point. People are the biggest impact on the fisheries, whether bait fisheries, commercial fishing, recreational fishing, or expanding into our watershed. The cormorants Aren't the problem, people are!

If the people are commercial fishers or fish farmers they should rethink what they are planning. Either way, the alewife populations in the Great Lakes are crashing which will impact all the salmonids.

[AScott Trout Flies]

In two words.......... SHOOT 'EM!!!!!!

Here in the UK, they are a protected specie... only so many licenses are let out each year. The EA(enviroment agency) has,( too little too late??) increased the number of licenses available, and the numbers of birds culled per license.
This has helped a little, but you still get *****le groups wanting to keep these birds alive and BREEDING. It would be a sad world without them, nut it would be nice to see one only once in a while. IMHO
Andy

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As featured in Trout Fisherman, UK, Jan 2005! I'd still rather be fishin'!!