Strong feelings on both sides over cormorant cull

[Spiel]

Strong feelings on both sides over cormorant cull

 

 

March 16, 2008

Doug Edgar / owensoundsuntimes.com

 

 

Parks Canada is proposing a cormorant cull on Middle Island in April.

 

Middle Island, south of Pelee Island, is well outside our area, but cormorants sure are on the radar of local outdoors enthusiasts, including birders and anglers. There's been more than one call for a cull in Georgian Bay.

 

The big aquatic birds stir up animosity among anglers because they eat fish. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters has certainly taken a strong stand in favour of culls, saying the birds are at 250 times their historic levels in Ontario and are damaging shoreline habitat and threatening water quality because of their droppings. The organization claims each cormorant eats a minimum of a pound of fish per day.

 

On the other hand, there are many people who are strongly opposed to the culls. They say the birds' spread is a natural process and we should have learned our lesson by now about interfering in such things. There is also a pretty strong distaste evident among many on this side of the fence for killing any animal.

 

An umbrella group called Cormorant Defenders International sent out a news release this week saying the proposed cull would probably push the birds to colonize other sites. They may have a point, but it seems to me the birds are doing a pretty good job of spreading out as things are now. On the other hand, considering how rapidly the birds have spread, I bet there will be new cormorants lined up to take the place of the culled birds.

 

I suppose the truth is somewhere in the middle. But finding it can be tough with such strong opinions on both sides. One source is the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, which has accumulated studies about the birds. In a nutshell, most of the research they've put together seems to indicate the birds do eat game fish, but they mostly target forage fish. Of course, since everything's connected, that doesn't mean their rapid increase in numbers is not having an indirect effect on other fish and birds.

 

The thing I'm most concerned about locally is the impact they might be having on some of our inland lakes. I've noticed more cormorants and fewer fish - especially small bass and panfish - in some of those lakes in the last few years. I'm afraid they may hit the little lakes hard, then fly off to better hunting grounds after the fish population has been decimated.

 

The MNR started a study of cormorants in Georgian Bay and the North Channel a couple of years ago. I hope to take a look at what they've found for an upcoming column. I was told in a quick chat with one MNR official that the birds population may have peaked.

 

Parks Canada's biggest concern about Middle Island seems to be the effect the nesting colony is having on the island, Canada's southernmost point.

 

Their plan, which could change, is to reduce the number of nests on the island from about 4,000 to between 440 and 840 in the next five years. Park officials have said in interviews that although cormorants are native, they have caused an imbalance on the island. The birds' droppings kill vegetation and the cull is being proposed to protect the island's rare Carolinian ecosystem, which supports nine federal species at risk.

 

An interesting bit of background from the fishery commission says the birds were first reported nesting at Lake of the Woods in the 1700s and spread east throughout the Great Lakes by the 1930s. By the 1950s, steps were taken to cut their numbers due to concerns about competition with sports and commercial fisheries. But it was chemical pollution that really hit the birds hard. DDT and PCBs caused weak, easily broken eggs and fatal deformities in young birds. Their numbers began to rebound after those chemicals were banned or better controlled.