Cormorant Control

[JFPowers]

I would encourage everyone concerned about the impact of Cormorants on the fisheries of the northern michigan area to read todays article in the Petoskey News and Review.
http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/20 ... news01.txt
The Beaver Island Wildlife Club is very concerned regarding the impact on perch and bass populations and the potential impact on the newly established Walleye population in Lake Geneserath. We are in the process of determining the communities pulse regarding this isssue and would welcome your feedback on this issue. We will be moving forward and contacting legislators in the near future and would like to have as much support as possible from the community. Pete Butchko, the state director of the USDA wildlife services was unaware until a few weeks ago of the extent as to which the birds are present in our area. Please let us know your thoughts

[Rich]

Jeff, I think the Cormorants have done unbelievable harm to the fishery, let's hope something good comes in the near future. There are people who say they were never around and those that say they were, I can only say, at 50, I never saw them until recent years. They are worse than despicable, if they do not hold the cure to cancer or the common cold, lets get rid of them!

[JFPowers]

I would urge everyone who is interested in the long term viability of our inland and great lakes fishery to contact your state representative today and encourage them to support House Resolution 185 which calls for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources to work with the Federal Government to implement controlling the Double Crested Cormorant population in Michigan waters. If you search the word "cormorant" in google news you will find that throughout the United States, these birds are causing damage to all sorts of fisheries and recreational opportunities for the general public. In Ohio, Little Sister Island has been deforested in the last three years and the state of Ohio has just approved a control program for their Great Lakes Area. We must address this issue together throughout the great lakes to reestablish our native fishery and restore beauty to the small islands of the great lakes such as Hat Island that have been decimated by these birds.

[Mike Green]

This is the address and web site for our rep.

E-mail Address:
kevinelsenheimer@house.mi.gov

Lansing Office Mailing Address:
S1389 House Office Building
P.O. Box 30014
Lansing, MI 48909-7514

Fax: 517-373-1841
Phone: 517-373-0829

[Gillespie]

A copy of my note to our State Rep:
Dear Mr. Elsenheimer,

I write to you today to urge you to support HR 185. In my 50 years of life on Beaver Island I never saw anything as shocking as the proliferation of the Double Crested Cormorant. When we were young men and this island was much more "wide open" and hunted crows, there was no way we would have expended the energy we did hunting them if the cormorant were in the skies around this island. They have decimated the fishery here and around the state and for that matter anywhere they gather. The support provided by colleges and universitites seems to support everything but logic and looking across the water. I do not remember these creatures in my childhood memories and if they were around they were in far less numbers than today. It is vital to the fishery and economy of this and other Great Lake States that we do something to keep the cormorant under control. To do otherwsie would be like supporting locusts or disease carrying mosquitos. Thank you for your kind attention to this matter, Sincerely, Richard Gillespie, Beaver Island

[JFPowers]

Today the state legislature will vote on House Resolution 185 which will receive overwhelming support thanks to the efforts of citizens of the state of Michigan such as all of you that expressed support for this resolution. We have to look no further than yesterdays Herald Review from Grand Rapids, Minnesota to see how much damage 2,524 nesting pairs of cormorants did to Leech Lake, once known as the finest walleye lake in Minnesota. We must realize that we have four to five times that many cormorants in the Beaver Island Archipelago. It is no wonder that our fishery has been severely impacted and hopefully something can be done before inland lakes such as Lake Geneserath become the next target of these predatory birds.

[Chamber of Commerce]

Thank you Jeff for your great leadership role!!!!!!!

When the time comes for a bunch of boats and a crew of egg olliers I'm sure the support will be there.

Here is a Coromorant study idea for CMU to consider for the next decade. Reduce the nasty black bird numbers by 90% and see if the perch and bass recover.

[JFPowers]

Yesterday the Michigan Senate unanimously passed Resolution Number 103 which calls for the Michigan DNR to incorporate aggressive control measures to reduce the population of Double-Crested Cormorants in Michigan. According to senate sources the concern expressed by the citizens of Michigan regarding this problem was deafening. The Beaver Island Wildlife Club would like to thank all of you that expressed their concerns, it is truly a case of all of us working together to overcome this obstacle to the natural beauty of the Beaver Islands.

[capncinde]

Are Cormorants really exempt from God and Nature's law? Sure, I am new to the island, but could not help doing some research on this subject....this is what I found, check it out before you decide to personally "mess with Mother Nature"

I do a lot of boat and outdoor shows for my charter business and, more and more, people would see I'm from Henderson Harbor and they'd ask, 'What's happened to your bass fishery?' Fishing is a $30-million-a-year business in Jefferson County and if people aren't taking home their limit, my neighbors aren't booking charters, the shops aren't selling bait and the marinas aren't gassing up the private boats."

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/ ... i_61555402

Clearly, omitting this voracious eater from the baitfish equation is completely asinine.


Cormorants nest and roost in bare, dead trees within or next to water.


Excessive amounts of bare, dead trees encourage the possibility of uncontrolled forest fires.
Is it just time to burn?

Someday, when all those dead trees finally fall to the ground and those flooded water basins shrink, the cormorant population will decline naturally. In the meantime, there are considerable ongoing discussions about whether people should step in and begin cormorant population control now.

My studies have shown me that the larger and more free-flowing the body of water, the less likely that cormorants will be a problem. It is difficult but possible to deter them without depredation. As a last resort, highly regulated and strictly enforced depredation methods could be used to restrict the population.

The cormorant helps us to read the health of the waters we treasure for the fish we seek. The deformities found amongst fledgling cormorants today could indicate bad times ahead for the fisherman. The toxins and pollutants that cause the crossed bills and eye problems are a far greater danger than the cormorants could ever be. We must direct our energies to the health of our waters.

Where there are cormorants, there are fish, fellow sports anglers. Think: is it the devil or the deep blue sea that evades your well-cast baits and lures? A knowledgeable fisherman with continually acquired skills is more than a worthy adversary for the black-feathered demon of underwater flight
http://www.wildlife-research-team.com/c ... devil.html

Over the last three years, he says, the Hula Valley area fishermen and the NPA have successfully used a “scaring technique” that utilizes cell phones, a coordinator and fireworks to lead the cormorants to feed only in the Sea of Galilee. Competition between cormorants and area fishermen and fish farmers has been reduced so dramatically that some fishermen have asked for cormorants to be “brought back.” (Arad says the biggest reason the birds are missed is because they serve as natural predators of a number of unwanted “pest” fish species.)
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/516753/


Left alone the population of cormorants will eventually balance out with the available food supply. Unfortunately, it will be at the expense of the sport fishery, other bird species, and the environment. Is the government prepared to compensate businesses, including the tourism industry, for lost revenue because of the Ministry's mishandling of the fishery? We cannot allow the disastrous impact of cormorants to go unchecked. We have to be the top predator. In order to have a truly healthy and productive fishery in Ontario the government must bring the cormorant population under control. Hiding an unwillingness to take action behind a "need for more studies" is not going to accomplish a thing.


http://www.nsite.ca/index.cfm?page=759& ... EN=9590359

Their recovery should be a celebration because it reflects a healthier Great Lakes system overall. However, this also makes them more visible and susceptible to persecution.
http://www.peacefulparks.org/ppc/campaigns_hunt_cua.htm



"The ecological difference between cormorants and wolves is zero," says
Barry Kent MacKay of the Animal Protection Institute. "They are equivalent
in their role as top predators. The only difference is that recreational
anglers hate cormorants because they are viewed as competitors for sport
fish."
"If you understand that all creatures play a key role in the balance of
nature, then you can't pick and chose which predators receive protection and
which ones are shot dead," says MacKay.


http://indaba.iucn.org/archives/aliens- ... 005469.htm


Cormorants take primarily young and sick fish. Of Roach caught by cormorants in a Swiss lake, 30% of the fish were infected with the tapeworm Ligula intestinalis, whereby only 3% of the total of the fish in the lake were infected. Hunting cormorants concentrate on these sick, slower and weaker fish and thereby contribute to a healthy fish stock.

This example extends to the vertebrates as well. Just because the fry are taken by cormorants does not mean that there are too many birds. It could also mean there are no places for the fry to hide, they are too weak to fend for themselves, the water that they are in makes them weak, they are STRESSED. The real solution is to make sure that the fish are STRONG before sending down the river. (By the way, have you seen those fish? We call them 'sock fish' because their fins are all torn up. They hardly swim like fish, they are way too easy for anglers to catch and they certainly can barely swim from predators.)
Two) Another thing, I love the wilderness, the raw wilderness, which means that those fish are on their own once they leave the protection of the human beings that raised them. And that is that. My children are grown and past 18 that means they can mess up and I have no power. There are terrible people out there that I can't protect them from, but I hope that I gave them the food they needed to be strong, the education to find life sustaining jobs, and the moral training so that they have the fiber to stand up to bad ideas.

http://www.proact-campaigns.net/infoand ... cormo2.htm

WHAT IS REALLY ENDANGERED???
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/endangered/l ... ml#MAMMALS

WHAT IS REALLY KILLING THE LAKES?
http://www.greatlakesforever.org/html/t ... ecies.html

TONS OF INFORMATION ABOUT CORMORANTS
http://www.biopoint.com/msla/aug99/cormorant.htm

BEST AUTHORITY AND HISTORY OF CORMORANTS
http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Cormo ... 6470_7.pdf

[Gillespie]

Cindy, That is all just WONDERFUL, but says nothing of the effect they have had in a very short time on fish and the fishery, not to mention the economy of waterfront communities that have relied on a vibrant "fishing hole" for survival. If the "guano" from a cormorant perhaps had the cure to cancer or the common cold buried within everyone might agree with you. In the meantime, the fishery and the economy of those reliant upon same have suffered devastating losses at the expense of these ugly creatures. Now, would you be willing to do the sampling if we do test their waste for possible use............

[capncinde]

Yes, Richie; I know Jennifer will approve the funds for cormorant guano testing. I spent 3 hours on that research cause that is what I like to do, and if you went to all those sites, you would find there was equal testimony revealing exactly how devastating the cormorant population has been, in Canada, Galapagos, North America and Europe. There's apparently enough guano for all. My overall opinion is that the cormorant problem is creating desirable public awareness and opening many doors to solutions we may not have thought of; after reading for several hours I wanted to share what I had found.

[capncinde]

Try this one, it goes into detail about the devastation cormorants have caused in the Great Lakes...
Left alone the population of cormorants will eventually balance out with the available food supply. Unfortunately, it will be at the expense of the sport fishery, other bird species, and the environment. Is the government prepared to compensate businesses, including the tourism industry, for lost revenue because of the Ministry's mishandling of the fishery? We cannot allow the disastrous impact of cormorants to go unchecked. We have to be the top predator. In order to have a truly healthy and productive fishery in Ontario the government must bring the cormorant population under control. Hiding an unwillingness to take action behind a "need for more studies" is not going to accomplish a thing.


http://www.nsite.ca/index.cfm?page=759& ... N=9590359

[JFPowers]

Yesterday at the State House of Representative Appropriations hearing the Michigan DNR indicated that they have created this cormorant report form for citizens to report cormorant activity. Please use this link to report to the Michigan DNR the extent of the cormorant damage that is occurring daily in the Beaver Island Archipelago. Thanks for your help

http://www.dnr.state.mi.us/cormorantobs/

They don't want every sighting reported, but rather every time we
witness the categorized activities indicated on the report.

[Chamber of Commerce]

Thanks and well done Jeff!

Sent a "first sighting report" 4-13 today.

[jegbert]

News Article on Yahoo.

HARRISBURG, Pa. - The double-crested cormorant, a voracious fish-devouring bird that was vanishing only 35 years ago, has made a triumphant comeback. So much so that several states now want the bird dead.

Pennsylvania is the latest to try to kill the cormorant, which has targeted catfish hatcheries in the South, angered anglers in the Great Lakes and killed every tree on a Vermont island.

In the coming days or weeks, federal wildlife sharpshooters will head out to the state-owned Wade Island, near Harrisburg, in the middle of the night and use air rifles and suppressed .22-caliber rifles to try to cull up to 50 of the more than 120 cormorants believed to be nesting there.

Pennsylvania wants to stop the shiny black birds from stealing nesting space from two birds on the state's endangered list: great egrets and black-crowned night herons.

"It's a means of trying to give the great egret and black-crowned night herons some breathing room," said Jerry Feaser, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

Until a federal regulation approved in late 2003 loosened the rules, the legal killing of cormorants was mostly confined to southern states, where hatchery owners could kill them to protect their catfish.

Under the new rules, seven states brought in federal wildlife authorities to kill cormorants, hoping to protect their fish, trees and other birds. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service says Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Mississippi and Ohio are introducing programs this year.

In 2005, federal authorities reported killing just over 13,000 double-crested cormorants, a fourfold increase from a year earlier. Cormorants now number an estimated 2 million in North America.

Vermont will be shooting cormorants for the third straight year in an effort to regenerate cottonwoods, white pine and other trees on Young Island in Lake Champlain. Cormorants on the six-acre island helped kill the trees by stripping them of twigs for nests.

In Great Lakes states, the cormorant population has exploded, competing with anglers for fish such as perch and walleye and hurting tourism. Minnesota is killing cormorants at one of the state's most popular fishing spots, Leech Lake, where they are blamed for making the prized walleye harder to catch.

"I've seen an area one time that's probably a good mile long and it was just solid cormorants," said Walker, Minn., fishing guide Tom Wilson, who estimates he has lost up to three-fourths of his business since 2002. "They were up in the shallows and were feeding on everything."

The cormorant can be mistaken for a duck or a goose when it floats on the water, but when it spreads its wings to a 4-foot span, it can be imposing, like a gargoyle â?? with a spray of head feathers that stick up like a bad haircut.

The birds winter in the South and nest in the north, mostly around the Great Lakes, on the Canadian prairies and along the coasts.

Before 1972, cormorants were disappearing. Anyone was allowed to shoot them and the pesticide DDT made their eggshells so thin that adults often accidentally crushed their young.

But the federal government began protecting the birds in 1972 and outlawed DDT soon after, bringing them back from the brink. Expanding fish hatcheries and growing populations of small fish in the Great Lakes also helped, providing better sources of food, said Shauna Hanisch, a Fish & Wildlife Service biologist.

In the Great Lakes alone, the cormorant population has rebounded from 89 nests to more than 110,000.

"Cormorants went away for a generation of people and now they're back," said Diane Pence, a Fish & Wildlife Service biologist. "And so we have a generation that hasn't experienced the number of cormorants that used to exist."

Pennsylvania wildlife officials tried and failed to lure egrets from Wade Island to a neighboring island two years ago before deciding to kill the cormorants.

Still, Stacy Small of Audubon Pennsylvania said the cormorant's reputation for destructiveness â?? which she said is undeserved â?? has made states quick to kill the birds before pursuing other options.

"I think it's a somewhat drastic measure," she said.