can this article b correct

[shametamer]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007704220659 Cormorant numbers on the Great Lakes have increased over a thousand-fold, that's 100,000% in the last 30 years, according to Butchko.

Estimates of their numbers range from 500,000 on up. Thunder Bay on Lake Huron once produced about 10-15 pounds of fish per acre, but that figure has dropped to about a half-pound per acre, says Jim Johnson, a research biologist at the DNR's Lake Huron Research Station.

Cormorant predation played a major role in that decrease, he said, and species like whitefish, yellow perch and smallmouth bass that were abundant 10 years ago have virtually disappeared.

hard to believe that big of an impact on thunder bay

[Due51]

Am I wrong or is that lighted buoy off the NE corner of Peche Island swarming with cormorants?

[andy capp]

There are more cormorants that geese on lake erie. They are way out of control. Wish they would open season on them.

[MSUICEMAN]

yes, it is true as at one time there were NO cormorants in the great lakes, then for years and years there was one flock of them but their population never really expanded much.

then all of a sudden there has been a HUGE boom in their numbers.

The only reason i know these things is because I read a writeup on the cormorant populations maybe a year ago.

[shametamer]

dern! thats downright scary..if them asain carp get in...we'll all be eating collard greens and roots!...just amazed at a drop from 15 pounds per acre to a half pound and litterly wiping out some species in that area

[RichP]

agreed that is scary.

Under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wildlife management office, Miller leads a group of volunteers in the program. They have spent the past two summers chasing cormorants around Brevort Lake with firecrackers

...and to think when I was youngster I could never come up with a good answer to the question "what do you want to do when you grow up?" :lol:

[shametamer]

agreed that is scary.



...and to think when I was youngster I could never come up with a good answer to the question "what do you want to do when you grow up?" :lol:
yeah..it would look good on the ol resume......WATERBOUND EXPLOSIVES CORMORANT PREDATION SPECIALIST ah wouldn't whitmore lake be proud of its 'favorite son'!;)...............KNEW the birds were a problem ..see them everywhere..just never realized they had become a plague!

[COHO]

what do they look like:confused:

[kcud rellik]

They look like a BIG black- duck. Not as in the species just a duck thats black.:D It'd only take one open season to get rid of them.... DNR shaking their eggs aint much different. :rant: :evilsmile

[Ralph Smith]

I hear raccoons and foxes thrive on commorant chicks,when their released on the nesting islands:rolleyes:

[Ugottaluvit]

and they can't be killed why??? lemme guess............the DNR will take care of it.....:lol: Could this be another example of how the DNR works? I hear those guys know what's best.

[soggybtmboys]

I remember never seeing those when I first started duck hunting 17 years ago, maybe once in a great great while. Now the dam things are everywhere. The fisheries are getting pounded by these nasty birds. I think something more than just harrassing them ought to be done. We are allowed to shoot merganzers, which in my opinion is not much different than a cormorant. They are both fish ducks, and the take on merganzers is quite liberal.......the merganzers do not eat fish like the cormorants do. I guess I equate cormorants to those voracious fish called snakeheads. I say no closed season on the cormorants till they are severely depleted, then do keep a season on them to keep em in check.

[MSUICEMAN]

they couldn't be killed because technically they were a FEDERALLY protected species. they are no longer, but its hard to explain a season on animals that serve as no real food supply, fur/feather supply, etc.

i do hope we get to control their populations via hunting/killing/or other means as they are a nasty animal. but i'm guessing from the hundreds of geese on the golfcourse across the street from my place that that isn't going to happen anytime soon.

[Ralph Smith]

they couldn't be killed because technically they were a FEDERALLY protected species. they are no longer, but its hard to explain a season on animals that serve as no real food supply, fur/feather supply, etc.

i do hope we get to control their populations via hunting/killing/or other means as they are a nasty animal. but i'm guessing from the hundreds of geese on the golfcourse across the street from my place that that isn't going to happen anytime soon.


Maybe some catfood company could get an email for a new brand idea! Cats love fish and chicken, seems to be a all in one food source:lol: Purina used to pay the state for salmon from the swan river after taking of eggs(not sure if they still do or not), maybe they'd be interested in some "commorant flavored" cat chow.:D

[Bonz 54]

They just need to ad them to the list of pests. English sparrows, Starlings, Rats, mice, none of which hold any sort of food, fur, or feather resource all have No Closed Season on them. Time to Lock and Load...:evilsmile FRANK.

[waterfoul]

Was out on Lake Michigan Saturday afternoon. We saw flocks and flocks of them. Just in our general area I'd guess we saw well over 1000 cormorants. I've never seen them like that out there before.

The pond between chicago drive and 196 in Grandville is also full of them. Lots of them. I'd bet there aren't many small fish in that pond anymore.

[KI Jim]

What ALMOST killed off the cormorants was DDT. They were real susceptable to the poison building up in them because of all the fish that they ate. The cormorant was ALMOST extinct in the great lakes with only a small colony surviving down near Niagra Falls. Too bad we didn't kill 'em off while we had the chance.

I spend a great deal of time on Kelly's Island and we used to go out to Middle Island just to look around. Used to be you would see all kinds of gulls, ospreys, kingfishers and others ther. The trees and vegetation were healthy. Now it is almost dead, except for the huge # of cormorants.

JIm

[browning13]

those numbers are very scary. it seems like the dnr would want to better protect the millions they spend on stocking the great lakes. hopefully someone can come up with some type of solution soon. to bad they can't make an open season.:smile-mad

[NittanyDoug]

Our guide on PIB the other weekend said the feces from them is so toxic it actually kills the trees they roost/nest in and they just progress back as the trees die. Thereby killing all of the trees over time.

[bassman00]

I don,t know it anybody remembers this but about 5 years ago somebody went out to charity islands with 100's of shotgun shells and did a little exterminating. The DNR to my belief did little to find out who the shooter was. Not that I am condoning this type of behavior but I think the DNR might feal the same way.

[catfishtom210]

The cormorants are a major problem on West Sister due to their droppings. I thought about a year ago Ohio talked about a shooting program there. WS is a sanctuary and there are protected trees growing there (or dying as the case may be now)! Maybe we can get the tree-huggers against the animal rights folks!:lol:

[MSUICEMAN]

What ALMOST killed off the cormorants was DDT. They were real susceptable to the poison building up in them because of all the fish that they ate. The cormorant was ALMOST extinct in the great lakes with only a small colony surviving down near Niagra Falls. Too bad we didn't kill 'em off while we had the chance.

I spend a great deal of time on Kelly's Island and we used to go out to Middle Island just to look around. Used to be you would see all kinds of gulls, ospreys, kingfishers and others ther. The trees and vegetation were healthy. Now it is almost dead, except for the huge # of cormorants.

JIm

true about the DDT, but they are also not really native to the great lakes. this is from a fish and wildlife service webpage regarding cormorants in the great lakes:
"The interior population, centered in the northern prairies, spread eastward and first nested on the Great Lakes in 1913. "

i say lets get rid of them for good.

[William H Bonney]

and they can't be killed why??? lemme guess............the DNR will take care of it.....:lol: Could this be another example of how the DNR works? I hear those guys know what's best.

That about sums it up.

[shametamer]

Kumma and i were on the detroit river last night...we counted almost 70 of these birds in the trees just south of the stacks ...whats gonna happen if they invade detroit river erie western basin in large numbers?

[MSUICEMAN]

Kumma and i were on the detroit river last night...we counted almost 70 of these birds in the trees just south of the stacks ...whats gonna happen if they invade detroit river erie western basin in large numbers?

too late, already have. there are an insane amount of em in lake st. clair also.

[shametamer]

well i write my congressman, jennie ho and the Dnr at every chance i get,to complain..what more can we do?