"Wolfgang" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
Found it:

"Cormorant predation on smallmouth bass in the Great Lakes so alarming
that some individuals have taken matters into their own hands. In 1998,
nine fishermen killed about 2,000 adult cormorants on Little Galloo Island
in Lake Ontario. The men were found guilty of violating the Migratory Bird
Treaty Act. They were fined and sentenced to several months of home
confinement."

from:

http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/b...ews_cormorants

Wolfgang


Indeed, emotions can run high on such matters. It is now possible to obtain
restricted shooting permits here, especially as a "pond" or lake owner, as
it is normally quite easy to prove the cormorant predation in such places.
There are some who would go the whole hog, and eradicate the birds if they
could, which would doubtless cause another load of problems.

During a couple of recent relatively severe winters here, large numbers of
( European) cormorants turned their attentions to feeder becks, small
streams, and some rivers, as the lakes etc were frozen over. Many streams
and the like, over very wide areas, were completely denuded of fish as a
result. Whole generations of trout and grayling simply disappeared.

This is why many anglers dislike ( read "Hate" !) the birds. Under normal
circumstances these birds would not hunt in streams etc, but there are
circumstances when they do, and they are remarkably efficient at it. It does
not take a group of cormorants long to empty a small stream of practically
all fish up to about 20 cm in length.

TL
MC