Ship Island- Lake Couchiching

[Kerry]

We were out on the Island Princess for dinner and a cruise this evening.Got a close up of Ship Island tonight.What an absolute shame to see such destruction.At one time you couldn't see thru the other side for trees and we used to park the the boat in on the other side and swim.Not anymore.Last week while working on a house on Simcoe we had a pod,herd,the whole dang Cormorant cavalry fly by nonstop for at least 10 minutes.Was there not a cull of three thousand birds last year at Pelee and is the ministry not supposedly oiling eggs?

 

 

Sorry the pic is from my phone.The canopy you see is at least 90 percent birds.

Kerry

[Jonny]

I'm afraid that's what they'll do to more and more of the beautiful islands on Nipissing as well.

 

The MNR, however, can not or will not recognize the problem.

 

There is no bird that I know of that degrades the (above water) environment like cormorants. Not to think of what they do to fish stocks.

Edited August 14, 2009 by Jocko

[JohnF]

I'm afraid that's what they'll do to more and more of the beautiful islands on Nipissing as well.

 

The MNR, however, can not or will not recognize the problem.

 

There is no bird that I know of that degrades the (above water) environment like cormorants. Not to think of what they do to fish stocks.

 

Does anyone know if they continue to frequent the island after they've befouled it? If not, does anyone know how long it takes for the island greenery to recover, or does it?

 

JF

[misfish]

Thor is in the same shape.

 

Save an island,shoot a comerand.

[Kerry]

John,

they have been slowly killing the island over a few years.There is vegetation but it's getting thinner all the time.

Kerry

[JohnF]

John,

they have been slowly killing the island over a few years.There is vegetation but it's getting thinner all the time.

Kerry

 

I'm not arguing their impact. I'm just wondering if there's an end to their involvement in a specific area, and the imminence of the revival of the area. Sometimes Mother Nature works in mysterious ways. This may be one of Her crazy little schemes that makes lotsa waves in the short run but in fact means bupkis in the big picture. The fact that we fisherpersons are inconvenienced, or merely offended, by the desecration/depredation of the nasty black feathered beasties isn't really relevant in the long run, as much as we tend to believe the sun rises and sets around us. These birds may only be here for a short time, not a good time, and we may well outlive them here.

 

Perhaps they're like Zebra Mussels. They flare and fade away, to be replaced by Eastern Gobies, which may well be replaced by Asian Carp leaping into our boats as we rip and snort off the waterways at the end of the fishing day. The world goes on, and on, and on, etc.

 

There will always be trials for us to address and deal with. As long as we come out on top we'll remain at the apex of the animal hierarchy. When we can no longer deal with the trials is when we need to learn to deal with our diminution in the chain of life.

 

JF

[misfish]

Too much save this and that.

Kill the mother fish gulping killers. Never mind the oiling the eggs crap.

[Kerry]

Too much save this and that.

Kill the mother fish gulping killers. Never mind the oiling the eggs crap.

Ya gots that right Brian.Although it's more than just their ability to eat fish as loons do too in much the same manner.To me it goes to the fact that they are way beyond a properly managed level and they have no predators to worry about besides us sitting here with our hands tied behind our backs.If egg oiling was the right answer originally then we wouldn't now be seeing what's there in our area.There has to be a major cull involving both Canada and the States jointly to make some kind of impact.

Kerry

[Mattitude]

Looks terrible. You can see it all the way from highway 11 across the lake. But at least it's a small island and not something like Big Chief. I'd like to try to hit them with lures when they fly low through the narrows.