cormorants

[mikeh]

Ont. ignores calls for cormorant cull

 

 

 

 

Apr 24, 2007 12:58 PM

Canadian Press

Politicians and fishermen from the United States and Ontario want the right to shoot the hundreds of thousands of double-crested cormorants blamed for damaged wildlife and reduced fish populations and say the province should be doing more to stop the “environmental crisis.”

But despite concerns that the populations of the large migratory birds are growing out of control, the Ontario government said Tuesday that there won’t be a cull of cormorants as there has been in the last three years.

 

Politicians from New York State have been struggling to come up with a solution for the troublesome birds and weren’t happy to learn of Ontario’s plans to manage the population simply by disturbing nests and oiling eggs, which prevents them from hatching.

 

“I’m disappointed to hear that they’ve chosen not to continue the cull,” said New York State assemblyman Darrel Aubertine, adding that although the vast majority of reproducing cormorants are in Canada, they always seem to make their way south.

 

“Birds don’t recognize an international border and they continue to raise havoc with fisheries. I would urge my counterparts — with all due respect — to certainly consider ... the culling of the birds.”

 

Those who want to control the cormorants say each bird gorges on at least a pound of fish a day, damages healthy trees, and leaves behind excrement that is toxic to trees and vegetation.

 

The government is making a huge mistake in not ordering a cull and is likely trying to avoid some negative headlines by letting the birds stick around, said Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters spokesman Robert Pye.

 

“The resistance (to a cull) is purely from people who don’t understand wildlife management, from a small band of animal rights activists,” he said.

 

He said the problem is now a full blown crisis and by mid-summer there could be well over 700,000 cormorants causing trouble in the Great Lakes basin.

 

Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay said the government called off the cull this year to study what happens when the cormorant population is left undisturbed.

 

“This is what the scientists tell us is the best way to go about it, so they’ll assess that impact this year, look at the populations being now undisturbed by a cull and see really if this action has made any difference or not,” he said.

 

But Pye said the last thing the government should be doing is delaying its strategy and “Ontario needs more cormorant research like Ontario needs more cormorants.”

 

South of the border, legislation in New York State proposes to let government officials shoot down cormorants in areas where they damage the environment, and politicians in Michigan are also exploring ways to control the birds.

 

Liberal member Ernie Parsons tabled a private member’s bill in the Ontario legislature in response to concerns in his riding and proposed that residents be allowed to shoot cormorants on their private property.

 

But even he isn’t confident it will get passed by his government.

 

“I’m not optimistic as I was at one time,” Parsons said, although he predicted the issue will not go away.

 

“In my community I’ve watched the cormorants absolutely strip the islands of all vegetation, I’ve watched them devour the fish out of the bay, I’ve watched them drive birds out of the community.”

 

Over the past three years, almost 11,000 cormorants were culled in eastern Ontario.”

 

Barry MacKay of the group Cormorant Defenders International said he’s happy the cull was cancelled but added that the government “still doesn’t get it.”

 

“They want to decrease the population that’s already not only stabilized but seen to be decreasing,” MacKay said.

 

“This is a native bird that belongs, it isn’t wiping anything out, never has, never will.”

[Clampet]

As they say: "Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction."

 

It is inconceiveable that in view of all the documentation and related research that has been amassed on this topic, someone in his position could utter such stupid senseless drivel!

 

Anyone with half a brain that has at least one foot outside the cave, knows that the Cormorants are indeed a threat to fish populations.

[Northhunter]

Welcome to the wacko world of animal rights activists.

 

They might be native, but they are definitely wiping things out.

An interesting note is that in nearly 100 years of records of bird sightings and data for Algonquin Park, the birds had never been sighted there until they appeared a few years ago. They've already wiped out islands on Opeongo and possibly elsewhere within the park.

 

They (MNR) just completed a 5 year study last year. It showed they do infact harm fish stocks and throw the food chain out of whack where colonies are established. Only thing I can figure is the government is afraid of the backlash if they take action, so they're going with "another study"

[irishfield]

They are moving further North as well. We had one lone Cormorant take up residence on the end of ours and our neighbours docks late last August. 10 minutes on the dock and you'd swear someone dumped a contractors 5 gallon pail of white paint. Brought the gun back up in September... to get it so it couldn't guide it's friends back... and of course it was gone. Nobody I talked to has ever seen a Cormorant on the lake before. Sure hope it doesn't bring it's whole family back with it this year.

Edited April 25, 2007 by irishfield

[Tootsie II]

I may get censored by the forum administrators for this but don't these gutless wonders make you want to puke. I was willing to give these guys the benefit of the doubt till some time ago because of the problems they inherited from the previous government. Lately, however, they have proven that they do not deserve to be re-elected. IMO this about the fourth issue that they have really screwed up on.

When will politicians start putting the public good ahead of getting their sorry asses re-elected.

( Boy, isn't that a pipe dream.)

[BITEME]

Kill em all Let God sort em out!!!!!!

[JerseyDog]

Has anyone read what the Cormorant Defenders have to say? Why are these Defenders and anglers so far apart on the issue? Do they hurt fisheries or not? Do they kill trees or not? Are they native or not? Do they in fact eat alewife and goby and isn't that good? Are the populations growing or declining? Does anyone really know?

 

I am all for having lots of fish to catch, but sometimes its hard to know what to believe when an issue becomes so polarized. I have seen some of the damage they do and I will strongly and perhaps violently encourage any one that comes near my land to move on - but is this just the normal way of being for a billion years or if so and should we be meddling with Mother Nature?

 

I can totally understand a government deciding to leave a native population alone and let nature take its course. It is a pretty easy decision if only to avoid messy front page pictures in The Star with "gun nuts" and other serial killer types with gun in hand smiling like its Xmas morning while they blast the proud and wonderful cormorant to hell and beyond. I sure won't be voting for them, but with an election around the corner I can understand why they made the decision they did – I might very well do the same thing in that position for no better reason than to make sure I got my six years in office (and the fat pension that goes with it).

 

http://www.zoocheck.com/cormorant/

[Bob]

They are not native to the Great Lakes basin, the first breeding pairs showed up in the early 1800s. In the 1970s, they were almost wiped out again by DDT (so THEY say). Now the population is exploding and this invasive species IS causing damage to the environment. Oiling eggs helps but it isn't enough. I'm planning on doing a little hunting this fall and some target practice would do me good.

[Bernie]

My Father has been around for 75 years. He never seen a cormorant as a kid on Nipissing. They showed up here several years ago and are killing island growth and displacing other birds and their habitat as well. I have done my study on them and I didnt get paid a nickel. Time for some action-not studys!

[Motorhead]

Just did a little google search on these nut cases the Cormorant Defenders International...

Here`s what I found... http://www.zoocheck.com/news/?articleId=265

Pretty scary what these people will do ....

Wouldn`t it be nice to see them get involved and put some time and money into something like saving our MNR??

I fish a few times a year just outside of Algonquin park and If I see any cormorants my .308 is going to get sighted in... Kill `em all

 

Doug

[musky66]

Never.had.a.Cormorant.on.Lake.Muskoka.before.a.few.yeas.back.

Since.then.they.are.taking.over.

One.island.in.the.big.lake.where.Herons.nested.is.almost.all.cormorants

now.

They.seem.to.settle.a.new.island.every.year.

I.dont.mind.a.few.around...but.something.needs.to.be.done!

sorry.for.lack.of.space.bar!

[LeXXington]

I always carry a Sling shot on my boat, for bobber shooting practice, yet thats it.. :D

 

Election coming up, make your voice heard !!!

[fishindevil]

Well about 15 yrs ago,i remeber asking a charter boat captain about those big black birds i saw all around the port darlington harbor just out in the lake,and he told me he thought it was some speices of loons,and every year since,there have been more and more and now as we all know there are thousands of them,so its proof that they are increasing in numbers ten fold,and about 4 yrs ago,i spotted one on the ottawa river near petawawa,and they have never been there before either so lets attack the govt for not letting the MNR do the job that they know has to be done,to kill them in huge numbers,they can hire hunters and at least make a season on them so they can be hunted big time...or put a bounty on them...that would work for sure....i hope they do something as its gonna get even worse,or before its to late, god dam polititions idiots

[Northhunter]

I saw my first one about 15 years ago on Nipissing. They've since become common but haven't yet established any colonies on our end of the lake and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

 

I googled "Comorant Defenders International" when the thread was started. They are an animal rights movement and appear to be operating the way the rest of them do. I looked over their site, even read one of their "reports" and it appears they are against the birds being killed for any reason.

A quote from their site "But cormorants have little, if any, effect on sport fish populations and the death of a percentage of trees in their nesting colonies is part of a natural process of succession."

 

I fail to see how a 100% decrease in living trees on island communites where the birds were never present, even during the late 1800's/early 1900's can be called "natural succession".

 

"Scientific research has repeatedly proven that cormorants have no substantial negative ecological impact on fish populations."

 

They say this, but I've looked over the entire site and have yet to read such a report, or even see a link to one. They published a "critique" against was being done on Presquile and it appeared to be nothing more than their own thoughts and beliefs put on paper as fact. There were no references, nothing scientific.

 

"In fact, the majority of their diet is alewife and round goby, both introduced species that have disrupted Great Lake's ecosystems."

That's only on the great lakes. On inland lakes they really hammer the perch. That in turn, really impacts walleye stocks. Smallmouths don't go unaffected either. Hammer one species and you change how the rest of them interact.

 

They are having a symposium May 5th. Anyone wanna go?