The once near-extinct double-crested cormorant has made a dramatic comeback in the past few decades, and sport fisherman say the fish-eating birds are hurting their business. But as states move to limit their cormorant populations, there’s still no solid research that the birds are really to blame. The GLRC’s Gregory Warner reports:
Transcript
The once near-extinct double-crested cormorant has made a dramatic
comeback in the past few decades, and sport fisherman say the
fish-eating birds are hurting their business. But as states move to
limit their cormorant populations, there’s still no solid research that
the birds are really to blame. The GLRC’s Gregory Warner reports:
More states are joining the war on cormorants: oiling eggs to prevent
them from hatching, or shooting the birds. More than 11,000 of the
federally-protected birds were shot last year.
But there’s still no scientific proof saying birds compete with sports
fisheries. Jim Farquar is a biologist with the New York Department of
Conservation:
“We’ve not been able to detect declines in the fisheries at this point
in time. But that doesn’t mean that with a larger cormorant population
it won’t happen.”
At issue is diet. Cormorants eat whatever small fish are available,
leaving big game fish alone. In some regions, the birds eat almost
exclusively round gobies, an invasive species. Anglers believe that
cormorants disrupt the food chain, causing the numbers of larger fish to
decline.
For the GLRC, I’m Gregory Warner.