Scottish Fly Fisher on MSN

Also of interest;
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/b...ews_cormorants

http://www.nmnh.si.edu/BIRDNET/OC/experthelp/DCCO.html

this search;
http://www.google.de/search?hl=de&q=...rmorants&meta=

Will turn up a whole load of stuff.

A list of species is here;
http://www.camacdonald.com/birding/S...Cormorants.htm

May also be interesting;
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/publications/l...15fastfood.asp

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk...73304/?lang=_e

There is a great deal more available on the net.

TL
MC

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...
May be of interest;

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/is...tlakes_q&a.htm

Thanks, Mike. Very informative and interesting page.

It reminded me that I read a story some months ago about a group of people
who took it upon themselves to slaughter a nesting colony of birds somewhere
because of the perception that the birds were responsible for declining game
fish populations.

Anybody remember that story?

Wolfgang

"Jonathan Cook" wrote in message
...
Wolfgang wrote:

means anything, but watching all the changes that have taken place in the
past 50 years or so is very unsettling. The Great Lakes ecology is
reeling
from one serious blow after another, with no end in sight.

Not to mention all those salmon and steelhead...

The salmon and steelhead, while not specifically named, were certainly in my
mind when I commented on the ecological changes in the Great Lakes, as were
many other species which, if you look carefully, you may notice were also
not mentioned by name.

Wolfgang

"Wolfgang" wrote in
:


I can't deny that overharvesting the cormorants' food supply in marine
habitats has contributed to their dispersal in search of greener
pastures, but the Great Lakes even at their most fecund are virtually
sterile as their compared to oceanic environments. There must be
something more going on, I think.

Wolfgang




Great Lakes Cormorant management is an absolute nightmare. I've heard the
NY DEC speak on this a number of times. They have federal permission for
lethal management, but conservation groups keep preventing it through legal
action. The DEC's main tool is egg oiling.

A big issue is that the US and the Canuckistanians have to be on the same
page with respect to management, or things get screwed up.

--
Scott
Reverse name to reply

"Wolfgang" wrote in message
...

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...
May be of interest;

http://www.fws.gov/migratorybirds/is...tlakes_q&a.htm

Thanks, Mike. Very informative and interesting page.

It reminded me that I read a story some months ago about a group of people
who took it upon themselves to slaughter a nesting colony of birds
somewhere because of the perception that the birds were responsible for
declining game fish populations.

Anybody remember that story?

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

"Scott Seidman" wrote in message
. 1.4...
"Wolfgang" wrote in
:


I can't deny that overharvesting the cormorants' food supply in marine
habitats has contributed to their dispersal in search of greener
pastures, but the Great Lakes even at their most fecund are virtually
sterile as their compared to oceanic environments. There must be
something more going on, I think.

Wolfgang




Great Lakes Cormorant management is an absolute nightmare. I've heard the
NY DEC speak on this a number of times. They have federal permission for
lethal management, but conservation groups keep preventing it through
legal
action. The DEC's main tool is egg oiling.

A big issue is that the US and the Canuckistanians have to be on the same
page with respect to management, or things get screwed up.

Yep, things tend to get complicated.

At any rate, a preliminary survey of the sites Mike provided and a few
others suggests that population increases in the Great Lakes are
attributable mainly to natural increase of resident populations rather than
augmentation through immigration.

Wolfgang

"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

Scott Seidman wrote:

Great Lakes Cormorant management is an absolute nightmare. I've heard the
NY DEC speak on this a number of times. They have federal permission for
lethal management, but conservation groups keep preventing it through legal
action. The DEC's main tool is egg oiling.

Sheesh! If it were Idaho there'd be a 20-bird bag limit on cormorants.
Hell, we have a hunting season for Sandhill Cranes.

I've never seen a cormorant in Idaho, and God help the first one that
shows up.

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.

"Mike Connor" wrote in message
...

"Wolfgang" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
...
SNIP
Interesting that they are burgeoning both here and there. One wonders
whether the same sorts of dynamics are at work.....and what they might
be.

SNIP

Ongoing and well founded research suggests that the dynamics are much the
same. The single main cause being the massive overfishing of food chain
items. Large areas of ocean around the Americas are now almost devoid of
life, forcing birds and other predators to seek alternatives. These
alternatives are of course also slowly, or even rapidly eroded, as the
birds
then increase to beyond what the resource can bear, and then go into sharp
decline, but only after much damage and destruction has taken place.


White egrets are establishing very well on Norfolk ATM ~ don't know what
they are displacing, as the herons are still ther in number. Maybe there's
more amphibians / small fish?. We are regularly catching triggerfish on
south coast shores too.

Poor old polar bears are going to have to turn back to being brown or else
become extinct the way things are going with the environment / sun / nature.

rw wrote:

Scott Seidman wrote:


Great Lakes Cormorant management is an absolute nightmare. I've heard
the NY DEC speak on this a number of times. They have federal
permission for lethal management, but conservation groups keep
preventing it through legal action. The DEC's main tool is egg oiling.


Sheesh! If it were Idaho there'd be a 20-bird bag limit on cormorants.
Hell, we have a hunting season for Sandhill Cranes.

I've never seen a cormorant in Idaho, and God help the first one that
shows up.

Sorry to reply to my own post, but:

I Googled Idaho cormorant. There's one species, the double-crested
cormorant, that is native and very distinct, but I've never seen one.
It's designated non-game protected species.

If any non-double-crested cormorants show up, they should say their
prayers. :-)

--
Cut "to the chase" for my email address.