88 cormorants killed at pumped storage plant

[lkmifisherman]

If anyone has seen all these birds especially on a feeding frenzy then you know this isn't even a dent....


BRIAN MULHERIN - DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Cormorant management for 2007 is complete at the rock breakwater at the Ludington Pumped Storage Plant. A total of 88 adult birds were shot and about 440 nests were treated by oiling eggs in three visits by federal personnel this summer.

The birds were shot July 31 from a boat because the outflow from the plant and the waves didn’t allow a safe landing on the rock breakwater in Lake Michigan.

Crews shot birds from a 24-foot Zodiac.

USDA Wildlife Services Michigan Supervisor Pete Butchko said the number of adult birds was arrived at by calculating two adults for every nest. The goal was 10 percent of the adult population, which worked out to 88 birds. Butchko said the DNR estimated the entire colony’s population at a higher number, perhaps 2,000 birds, but the goal was always to take adults only.

“There are always a percentage of immature birds,” Butchko said. “That’s a percentage that no one could possibly know. So far, it’s impossible to get that number. Functionally, we work on the number of nests times two.”

Butchko said the treatment was a success.

“In the first year it was successful,” Butchko said. “I’m sure it’s too soon to tell any difference out there, but the elimination of the reproduction is probably more significant than people realize.”

Butchko said Ontario researchers found that for every seven active nests about a ton of fish is consumed by parents and nestlings on an active nest.

“We were there making sure there were no eggs that hatched and there were no young to feed,” Butchko said.

The treatment will continue as long as funding is available.

“I would say it was a successful year,” Butchko said. “We accomplished our goals, we learned what we needed to learn.”

[soggybtmboys]

Sorry, but I am of the opinion we need to shoot them back to the stone ages. They are voracious feeders, and prolific breeders. I dont think a harvest of 70% of the population would hurt them too much, sure would make the rest of us feel better about our fisheries being protected.

[lkmifisherman]

Sorry, but I am of the opinion we need to shoot them back to the stone ages. They are voracious feeders, and prolific breeders. I dont think a harvest of 70% of the population would hurt them too much, sure would make the rest of us feel better about our fisheries being protected.

I have to agree I seen them swarm the harbor in Manistee a few years back. It was like the sky was black with them...My wife and graddaughter freaked out over it...The wife said it was like a scene from the movie The Birds..to many commorants not enough lead....

LMF :fish:

[SurfDog]

You guys on the west side are lucky, the numbers of these birds are unreal on the rocky shoreline of northern Lake Huron. I know there are concerns on N. Manitou island that the colony of birds is so large thier waste is killing all of the plant life. This is a step in the right direction, but much more needs to be done to combat these birds.

[lkmifisherman]

Judging how they tend to nest on this side I bet they are terrible over there. I was over at the pump storage facility a couple of weeks back and something spooked the birds there and it was unreal how many of them there were...I would like to had my ole trusty 12 and 5 or 6 boxes of shells....I could have had a field day lol....

LMF :fish:

[soggybtmboys]

Down here in the Southeast on Erie, we have seen them take up on shoreline trees as roots, and the kill those trees with their excrement and ay other foilage it hits. They are pretty bad up on Huron near Oscoda and Harrisville. So bad, they have patrol boats guarding the smolt when they plant in the Ausable.

[William H Bonney]

I just don't get it,,,,,, are these "biologists and supervisors", INSANE???? 88 birds:dizzy:,,,:confused:. These birds are not only a Great Lakes problem anymore,,,, I've started to see them pile into apartment complex ponds all over the suburbs now.:rant:

[roger23]

2 dead in farmers pond I fish, found them yesterday must have been some thing they ate:evil:

[ted stehney]

88 killed. I would call that a good start. Maybe they should hire the guys from the Charity Island masacre a few years back. They could show the government boys how to reduce the numbers! Funny that the DNR is still hoping to catch those guys. Maybe they want to give em a metal.

[Hare's Ear]

They are an invasive species that came on freighters from China. Why can't we use them for taget practice and eleminate these terrible birds? If I were running the DNR every angler should be required to carry a shot gun in cormorant country.

[Shop Rat]

"The goal was always to take adults only" What? aren't the immature birds going to be adults next year? I just don't get it. It should have read "The goal is to take all of them" :)

[The Terminator]

I think they should have Cormorant skeet shooting charters. Bet the salmon charter boats on the sunrise side would like to get out there for some payback !

The Terminator

[stinger63]

88 killed is like a pocket of pennys nothing which is hardly substancial.Now if the number would have been 880 or 8800 then we are talking a dent in them.This program is not serious enough although the intentions are good.

[Shop Rat]

I think they should have Cormorant skeet shooting charters. Bet the salmon charter boats on the sunrise side would like to get out there for some payback !

The Terminator

I'm in.

[Huron River Dan]

NOT! Too bad it wasn't the whole colony...

Dan

[Bob's Outdoors]

Given the titanic struggle it took for certain people (mostly the Steelheaders) to get the powers to be to even consider controlling a protected species, get the funding (no small feat these days) and get started on controlling the problem, it is certainly disappointing to see the criticism in this thread.

Perhaps rather than sitting back and complaining that what other people are doing is not enough, that energy would be better spent writing letters and otherwise getting involved in being a solution to the problem.

http://www.mssfa.com/ is a good place to start.

Sorry if my reply seems grumpy, but I was around when they were told there was NO WAY they would EVER get permission to start controlling these birds, that it was impossible and blah blah blah...

They did not give up. Are they done? Is it enough? Perhaps, but the fact that it is happening at all is a major victory.

You should be applauding, not complaining.

[West Side AK]

Hey just wondering if you had the link to this article?
Thanks

[lkmifisherman]

I cut and pasted the story as the Ludington Daily News only keeps the links free for 7 days...If you pay them 11.00 a month you can search their archives...

LMF :fish:

[outdoor_m_i_k_e]

I think they should have Cormorant skeet shooting charters. Bet the salmon charter boats on the sunrise side would like to get out there for some payback !

The Terminator
similar to the asian carp shooting charters. . get rid of em all!!!

[outdoor_m_i_k_e]

They are an invasive species that came on freighters from China. Why can't we use them for taget practice and eleminate these terrible birds? If I were running the DNR every angler should be required to carry a shot gun in cormorant country.
that would work great for a lott of people and places. . i know i would be in. . the only bad part is i bet there would be some idiots out shooting resident ducks. . or some people that just dont know the difference and just shoot everything

[waterfoul]

Why do the oil the eggs? Why not just destroy them?? Gaurenteed not to hatch then.

And only shooting 10% of the colony? Why such a small number? 400+ nests... Kill one for every nest found I say... sooner or later... no more nests.

[brdhntr]

Why do the oil the eggs? Why not just destroy them?? Gaurenteed not to hatch then.

And only shooting 10% of the colony? Why such a small number? 400+ nests... Kill one for every nest found I say... sooner or later... no more nests.

If you destroy the eggs, they will renest. If you just oil them, the oil suffocates the embryo, and the egg won't hatch. By the time the adults realize the eggs won't hatch, it is too late to renest.