clever, really kind of funny birds,” said Stanley Senner, vice president for bird conservation for the National Audubon Society. “Here in the United States, they have gone through several real bottlenecks. One was the use of DDT for several decades that really greatly reduced cormorant populations.”
The pesticide made cormorants’ eggs have thinner shells, making it more challenging for them to reproduce.https://2f178d57a87bcea45e3631ede495ae9a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
“There have been periods of great persecution where they were getting shot all over the place. Yet, somehow this bird has managed not only to survive, but to thrive,” Senner said. “I admire their spunky nature and their ability to come back from these low points in their populations. As a Native American bird, they deserve an enormous amount of respect.”
But the birds, which have historically come close to being wiped out, are now considered a nuisance.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Service is seeking comments after the agency “received 161 requests for assistance with managing double-crested cormorant damage in Ohio. Those requests for assistance came from both private and public entities, including other governmental agencies,” Gail Keirn, a spokeswoman for USDA, said in an emailed response to questions.
A 74-page environmental assessment was issued outlining the scope of the problems which range from posing a threat to aircrafts to the birds’ acidic feces killing off vegetation where they nest. The cormorants compete with other birds for resources. The cormorants are also often labeled as culprits when it comes to raiding aquaculture producers of fish.
The agency is considering authorizing the killing of the birds or destruction of nests to lower the population in Ohio. Another common technique is oiling the eggs in cormorant nests to prevent the eggs from hatching. The embryos are effectively suffocated and the nesting cormorants won’t lay new eggs, believing the eggs are still viable. https://2f178d57a87bcea45e3631ede495ae9a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
In Ohio, the cormorants are known to reside near the western basin of Lake Erie. Ohio’s breeding population of cormorants peaked at 5,296 breeding pairs in 2011 but has fluctuated between 2,400 to 4,300 pairs in the last several years, according to the assessment.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife estimated the birds were responsible for taking 273,386 fish valued at nearly $200,000, according to the assessment. The birds can eat about a pound of fish per day. On average, they live to be six years old.
“It is with sadness that I am reading this draft environmental assessment, which proports to condone the use of violent measures to kill these birds. I cannot envision any scenario where these birds are becoming a nuisance other than fisherman claiming they are taking their fish. There are enough fish in the sea for everyone!” Virginia Frati, in submitted comments.
The birds, by their very nature, will hunt for fish.
“If you’ve got tons of catfish being reared in ponds that have no covers on them or no netting over them; don’t be surprised when cormorant show up for dinner,” Senner said. “If you set the table, the birds will come.”https://2f178d57a87bcea45e3631ede495ae9a.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-37/html/container.html
There are plenty of nonlethal methods to prevent cormorants from feeding on fish at hatcheries, he said.
“I think it’s unconscionable to build a hatchery and not built into it, a proper netting or other deterrence for birds. I’ve seen hatcheries that are set up to prevent bird depredations,” Senner said. “If the solution is just to go out and shoot cormorants, that’ll be a never-ending job.”
Another federal agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued a separate rule about controlling double-crested cormorant populations on Dec. 22.
Under the rule, a new special permit for interested states add to existing measures to address conflicts with cormorants “to protect human health and safety, personal property and threatened and endangered species,” according to a released statement from the agency.
“The Trump Administration is providing tools under this coordinated approach for managing conflicts and economic damage associated with double-created cormorants while minimizing the regulatory burden on federal, tribal and state agencies and individual citizens,” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Aurelia Skipwith said in the release. “This special permit will help minimize human-wildlife conflicts while maintaining sustainable cormorant populations as required by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.”
Senner said if there are multiple efforts from agencies to lower the population, without sufficient monitoring, there could be another great decline.
“If the birds are heavily persecuted, it could result in population declines at the state or even regional level,” Senner said.
Even though there have been no reports of aircraft strikes involving double-crested cormorants in Ohio from 1990 to 2018, that is still listed as a potential risk of plane crash and reason for why the birds should be destroyed.
“That doesn’t sound like the double-breasted cormorant is having a ‘significant impact on the human environment’ and since that is our only metric under the current administration the cost to taxpayers to help out businesses in controlling this problem is not necessary and should not be undertaken,” said Constance Jones, who submitted a comment to USDA.
To read more about U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services plans for double-crested cormorants, visit https://beta.regulations.gov/comment/APHIS-2020-0115-0002.
After the Jan. 15 comment deadline passes, USDA will respond to the comments and those will be included in a final environmental assessment before the federal agency issues a final decision, Keirn said.
bburger@dispatch.com
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Exposing the Big Game 
Reblogged this on Committee to Abolish Sport Hunting Blog.
God forbid any animal takes fish away from fishermen, because the sea and all it holds belongs to them. We have lots of food choices, many creatures like marine birds and wildlife do not…..they eat fish.