Cormorant Control

[Gillespie]

Pretty much says it all, thanks for the note.

[icare]

Elsenheimer Welcomes Lawmakers for Cormorant Hearing on Beaver Island

State Representative Kevin A. Elsenheimer's Weekly Lansing Update

Area residents can comment on double-crested cormorant management issues in Michigan at a special meeting with state lawmakers on Beaver Island scheduled for May 19. Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer has invited the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Natural Resources to the Peaine Township Hall for a 10 a.m. hearing. Reps. Howard Walker, subcommittee chair, and Darwin Booher, subcommittee vice chair, along with Rep. Tom Casperson, are expected to attend. â??The cormorant population in Michigan is out of control and Beaver Island , unfortunately, provides a prime example of the results,â?￾ said Elsenheimer, R-Bellaire. â??A stepped-up program that balances the number of birds with the needs of the environment, fisheries, residents and local businesses is a must for northern Michigan . I thank Rep. Walker and Speaker Craig DeRoche for having the subcommittee address the Beaver Island residents.â?￾ The Great Lakes population of double-crested cormorants was devastated during the 1960s, primarily by the effects of chemical contamination, human disturbance and nest destruction. In 1972, the double-crested cormorant was added to the list of federally-protected species by the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Since then, the Great Lakes population of double-crested cormorants has reached historic numbers currently estimated at more than 600,000 birds.

The DNR and U.S. Department of Agriculture are allowed limited control and management programs for the birds, but funding has been a low priority until now.

â??The House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Department of Natural Resources held a number of hearings throughout Michigan last fall and we heard many stories of the devastation and ill affects the birds are having on local communities,â?￾ Walker said. â??Anglers, residents and business owners need to have this problem addressed, so the subcommittee has responded by recommending $150,000 be allocated in the 2006-07 budget to increase the management activities.â?￾ The state funding proposed by the House will be directed through the DNR to the U.S.D.A. Wildlife Services Agency, and will essentially double the amount of funding the agency receives for cormorant control.

The Peaine Township Hall is located at 36825 Kings Highway on Beaver Island . Prior to leaving the mainland, the subcommittee will host an 8 a.m. news conference in the pilot's lounge of the Charlevoix Airport , 111 Airport Rd. , in Charlevoix.

[Gillespie]

http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/20 ... news04.txt

[jflanagan]

Legislators visit Beaver Island to view cormorant damage

BY FRED GRAY NEWS-REVIEW STAFF WRITER
Monday, May 22, 2006 2:50 PM EDT

State Rep. Kevin Elsenheimer, R-Bellaire, said today that the group of legislators he invited to Beaver Island for a special meeting on double-crested cormorants witnessed tens of thousands of the voracious birds that have created virtual â??war zonesâ?￾ by depleting the vegetation in their nesting areas.

see rest of article here:

http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/20 ... news04.txt

[BobTidmore]

Last week the Beaver Island Wildlife Club hosted a reporter from the Petoskey News and Review.

As part of that meeting Island Airways flew him and other members of the club around the islands to see first hand the damage done by these pests. The pictures taken during this flight are posted on this web site:

http://spaces.msn.com/biwc/

To see the pictures full screen click on the down arrow next to Slideshow and select the option Full screen.

I have another batch of photos from this trip and will try to get them posted today.

Thanks to Island Airways for providing the plane and pilot.

Bob Tidmore

[Marie S Powers]

It is critical that interested parties contact Senator Michelle McManus to encourage the State Senate to Direct the funding to the USDA Wildlife Services to control cormorants in the Beaver Island Archipelago

Her number is 517-373-1725

Thanks for all of your support

[JFPowers]

Here is a link to the story that Fred Gray did yesterday in the Petoskey News and Review. http://www.petoskeynews.com/articles/20 ... news02.txt In the same newspaper Fred reported on how the State Senate has written out the state representatives request for additional funding to help control cormorants in Michigan. Any of you who are concerned should contact Senator Michelle McManus or Senator Jason Allen's office to help facilitate the funding for cormorant control in Michigan.
Thanks for all of your concern.

[JFPowers]

This is a reprint of an article published in the June 15th, 2006 St. Ignace News. It makes it clear that biologists are determining that cormorants are definitly impacting the Yellow Perch and the reestablishment of their perch fishery seems to be related to the control that has taken place there. I wanted everyone to be aware of this because it demonstrates what kind of success we would have if we could get a successful control program going here.

"Biologists Say Perch Numbers May Correlate to Cormorant Efforts
Les Cheneaux Islands See Rise in Yellow Perch"
By Amy Polk
Yellow perch populations in the Les Cheneaux Islands increased in size and number in 2005, owing to what biologists are calling a "phenomenal" year class in 2003 for perch, both here and around the Great Lakes.
Fisheries Biologist Dave Fielder of the Department of Natural Resources Alpena Research Station said so many young perch hatched in 2003 and survived that they have contributed to a growing perch population. Mr. Fielder said 2005 catch rates were the highest measured since 2000, when populations plummeted to the lowest numbers ever recorded.
In the Les Cheneaux Islands, at least, survival rates may be tied to federal double-crested cormorant control activities. United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services agents began lethal control by oiling eggs and shooting a select number of cormorants in 2004. Yellow perch and other fish species' survival rates have been on the rise since then, suggesting that fewer cormorants mean more fish. Since perch population increases have only been recorded for a few years, however, Mr. Fielder and other scientists are hesitant to call cormorant control the silver bullet that ensures a prolific future for perch. Speaking to a large group of sportsmen, anglers, and concerned public this spring in Cedarville, Mr. Fielder was still optimistic.
"This positions us very well to further test the effects of doublecrested cormorant control," Mr. Fielder said. "Now that we have some strong year classes in the system, we can measure how some of these effects are working."
He said the stronger numbers "are consistent with the kinds of results we were anticipating with cormorant control," just like the demise of the 1998 year class, which contributed to 2000's dismal population, "is consistent with the types of predation caused by cormorants."
At least three more years of data is needed before researchers know more. Other factors in the lakes might be helping perch populations as much as cormorant control. Alewives, an invasive forage fish, have nearly disappeared in Lake Huron since 2003, which is may have improved perch production in other areas of Lake Huron. Alewives eat and compete with newly hatched perch fry.
Mr. Fielder has been conducting netting surveys in the Les Cheneaux Islands twice each year for the past six years, and will continue the August and October surveys again this year. The data he collects is compared to creel surveys collected by DNR creel clerks Bill and Linda Schroeder during fishing seasons to provide a synopsis of fishing conditions in the area.
The DNR keeps track of all the species of fish collected in the nets, as well as other factors like fishing pressure and the survival rates of young fish from year to year.

[JFPowers]

Please check out this link which is a cormorant control petititon started in Southern California where the birds are decimating stocked trout populations.

http://www.fishingnetwork.net/cormorant.htm

You will see in the signers that these birds are affecting fisheries across the entire United States. It is not just the great lakes that feeling the effects of the expanding cormorant population. Also it is interesting to note that observers across the entire U.S. witness these birds destroying basically whatever species of fish that are present in whatever body of water they invade. This petition really shows how large a problem this has become.

[JFPowers]

Recently in the Ann Arbor News, a CMU biologist indicated their opinion again that there is no evidence that cormorants damage fisheries, in the article titled "Cormorants making a small splash". The biologist also portrays the opinion that their is little evidence that these birds impact fish populations. I thought it was important for all of you interested in this issue on Beaver Island to see how our situation is being portrayed elsewhere.


http://www.mlive.com/columns/aanews/tal ... xml&coll=2

In this article the biologist indicates "She's actually seen declines in the number of cormorants around Beaver Island since the 1990s." That comment is very interesting. In the August 2006 USDA wildlife services assessment, it is indicated that the Cormorant population in the great lakes has increased from 5,000 nesting pairs in 1989 (Less than the number of birds that currently nest on Hat Island alone) to approxiametly 30,000 nesting pairs today, in which the same biologists counts are included. In the USDA study, they indicate that even with control it will be almost impossible to reduce the numbers of cormorants below 15,000 nesting pairs, three times the 1989 levels.
It is a serious concern when someone of influence only provides some of the facts to make their own personal viewpoints prominent and informs an uninformed public of only part of the story.

[Gillespie]

Jeff, Thanks for the report, you know that someone gives a damn about this topic and that it is "topical", look at the number of times it has been viewed on this forum. I would say the public certainly is more aware yet prisoners of the "powers that be". Everyone should remember this when it is time to vote for legislators!!

[JFPowers]

Check out this three photo sequence of this poor Texas fisherman trying to stock a pond. I guess it is just another way of feeding the Birds!!!

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/16661182.htm

[Linda Gallagher]

Jeff-heard anything since last summer on this? Have they buried it?
I'm updating a piece on this I did a couple of years ago for the RE to run in Michigan Outdoor Times-May issue, so PLEASE, let us know current status asap!

Hope to see you in a couple of weeks...

Linda

[JFPowers]

A control program is scheduled to begin in the near future. We are awaiting the final details, the program will be conducted by a joint effort of the USDA Wildlife Services and the Grand Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. The Beaver Island Wildlife Club will supply volunteer support to these organizations.

[JFPowers]

Several issues have recently surfaced in out efforts to maintain or increase the Cormorant Control efforts in the Beaver Island Archipelago.
Currently in spite of our reccomendations for an increase in control over the 10% cull from last year, there is no increase planned for 2008 and USDA Wildlife Services personnel are still not allowed access to Hat Island to conduct egg-oiling efforts in spite of Hat containing the largest cormorant colony in the Great Lakes. Concerned citizens are urged to contact Trevor Van Dyke at Senator Michelle McManus's office at 517-373-1725 to request that funded be continued and hopefully increased in future years to provide state funds for cormorant control.
Additionally, in spite of the fact that the fisheries biologist from the DNR is on the record at reccommending a 50% reduction in cormorant numbers in the Great Lakes, unnamed DNR sources have indicated that a biologist from Central Michigan University continues to undercut our control efforts to bring down the effects of cormorants in the archipelago. We will be making a concerted effort as a club to get our message heard on a state and federal level.
We hope to work with tribal, state and federal officials to help restore our once splendid fishery in Lake Michigan and to preserve our newly established Walleye fishery on Lake Geneserath, which is increasingly under pressure from cormorants that are arriving daily on the lake as many of you have reported.
Thanks to all of you that have helped in these efforts and we welcome your participation and input into cormorant control.