Cormorants' impact on fisheries

[Hog Basser]

I've seen these birds discussed on this board before.  I'm not a fan of them at all because they can devastate the forage base for my bass in our private lake.  This article has some of the best detail I've seen about them.  

https://www.bassmaster.com/conservation-news/cormorants-impact-fisheries 

[MickD]

Michigan has had similar problems, with the birds being determined to be the main reason for the decimation of the perch population in the Les Cheneaux Islands in northern Lake Huron (and Saginaw Bay if I'm not mistaken. ) We had our own "bird islands," with the trees killed by the birds.  After a few years of population control by egg oiling and other methods, the perch populations are coming back.  In October one can still see many thousands of them in a group migration on Saginaw Bay.  

[TimberTodd]

It seems they know when and where Oregon Dept. Fish and Wildlife are releasing salmon and steelhead smolt in the Columbia river. They can be very impactful on fish populations.

[WRB]

Protected bird nationally as endangered species....and they are if they fly anywhere my duck blind.

Tom

[BuzzHudson19c]

I have just recently started seeing Cormorants back in this area. The past few years I have seen their population grow. I started to get worried until last year when I saw one sitting on a dock I was paddling toward. As I got closer the bird got nervous but didn't fly away and instead jumped in the water and attempted to swim away from me. It was then I noticed it's left wing was almost broken off and facing the wrong direction. I scanned the area to see if anything around could be the culprit and sure enough a bald eagle was perched in a pine tree over us waiting to finish the job.

[Bluebasser86]

I believe they've nearly cleaned out a couple ponds I used to fish. Fished one this morning and there were several of them on the pond. Used to be nothing to catch a couple dozen bass out of this pond in a hour or so after work. This morning I struggled to catch 7, and 2 had very noticeable scrapes on them like they'd narrowly escaped being dinner already. 

 

They're kind of like otters in my mind. A pond or lake with an overabundance of small fish could probably really benefit from them, but a well balanced body of water, or a small pond that is easily impacted by a sudden rapid increase in removal of fish by predators, could easily be negatively affected and take years to recover if they ever come back. 

[Crestliner2008]

It's almost funny to learn that they are on the endangered species list. Wish they were a lot more endangered.

[MickD]

10 hours ago, WRB said:

Protected bird nationally as endangered species....and they are if they fly anywhere my duck blind.

Tom

The ones we are talking about are double crested cormorants and are not an endangered species.  

[mattkenzer]

Cormorants are considered a Varmint in New Brunswick, Canada.

Can be hunted year round with the exemption of moose season.

No Limit .....

[Hog Basser]

Folks with private fishing reservoirs in our area use a variety of methods to keep them away.  One guy has cannons on timers that go off every so often throughout the day.  Most people just shoot to scare them away when they find them on their water.  But they always come back.  We have a ton of dead cypress trees in the middle of the lake and I'm wondering now if they are the culprit.  

[WRB]

3 hours ago, MickD said:

The ones we are talking about are double crested cormorants and are not an endangered species.  

You are right, I see they are a protected migratory bird species since 1971.

Double Crested cormorants numbers have exploded the past 15 years.

Tom

[J Francho]

In NYS, you can apply for a special permit to shoot double crested cormorants, if they are affecting your property.  I haven't noticed any issues affecting the fisheries around here, though they destroy the trees they perch in by pooping on everything.  It's disgusting, and smells from a mile away.

[TnRiver46]

3 hours ago, MickD said:

The ones we are talking about are double crested cormorants and are not an endangered species.  

I was fixing to say there's no way on Earth a double created cormorant is endangered. I can show you 1000 everyday. I have also had one poop ALL over me. Thankfully they don't effect fishing on the TN river where you can walk across schools of shad. They can hurt small lakes and ponds, USFWS can give you a depredation permit to kill them if you raise fish for money 

[WRB]

16 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

I was fixing to say there's no way on Earth a double created cormorant is endangered. I can show you 1000 everyday. I have also had one poop ALL over me. Thankfully they don't effect fishing on the TN river where you can walk across schools of shad. They can hurt small lakes and ponds, USFWS can give you a depredation permit to kill them if you raise fish for money 

I know it's hard to imagine but double crested cormorants were a endangered species in the 70's when I did a lot of waterfowl hunting. The posters were everywhere with pictures and a warning not shoot them. Wisconsin and Florida were raising cormorants back then as it was believed less then 100 pairs existed. 

Tom

[webertime]

They are everywhere on Champlain.  A buddy the scuba dives says that he's watched them obliterate schools of Perch right in front of him.  There are islands that have had most of the trees die or have a grey/white glaze all over them.  Do manage to smack one with the boat every now and then though (they pop out of the water to a "thump").

[Paul Roberts]

Thanks for the article. This type of thing is always a hard issue for the general public. However, according to the article, it's because of human alterations of the land through the construction of reservoirs of all sizes that the cormorant populations have exploded. There was a similar issue I got involved in NY involving the return of beavers. We were happy to have them back, but, the land has been altered so drastically from its original state due to deforestation for agriculture and urbanization, that trout streams were already heat stressed. Beavers ended up adding to that problem by ponding, heating and silting water even well below the series of ponds. Without wolves and lions the most effective means was trapping. That was a hard sell to the public.

[TnRiver46]

35 minutes ago, Paul Roberts said:

Thanks for the article. This type of thing is always a hard issue for the general public. However, according to the article, it's because of human alterations of the land through the construction of reservoirs of all sizes that the cormorant populations have exploded. There was a similar issue I got involved in NY involving the return of beavers. We were happy to have them back, but, the land has been altered so drastically from its original state due to deforestation for agriculture and urbanization, that trout streams were already heat stressed. Beavers ended up adding to that problem by ponding, heating and silting water even well below the series of ponds. Without wolves and lions the most effective means was trapping. That was a hard sell to the public.

Yes but we sell beaver trapping services!!! It sells pretty well

[soflabasser]

We have lots of anhingas, pelicans, ospreys and other predatory birds in freshwater bodies of water in South Florida yet the bass population is extremely healthy. These birds are part of a healthy ecosystem and I am glad to see them when I am fishing.

[gim]

They can have an impact on certain fish populations if their numbers get out of control.  On Leech Lake in north central MN they US Fish & Wildlife had to send a bunch of sharpshooters out there to reduce them a few years ago.  Ironically, walleye populations rebounded shortly after.

[Hog Basser]

They don't have a huge impact on bass (as stated in the article), but can wipe out their forage base and especially shad.  In a smaller lake such as mine (53 acres) a fair number of them can make an impact pretty quickly.  

[greentrout]

Have seen what they can do on small bodies of water in TX. They do damage to the fish. What about small bass? I've seen small bass caught and eaten by them. What about the bluegill? Same. Can ruin a spawn. 3 & 5 acre ponds wiped out and bigger.

 

Private landowners once got relief from TPWD. No longer. Many have taken action on their own...