Originally posted by: papa_d on 3/17/2005 2:01:52 PM

THE TALK IS HOT ABOUT THAT AROUND HERE TOO, RAY... <!--graemlin::eek:-->

Originally posted by: L.M. Ray on 3/17/2005 1:42:39 PM

Wildlife officials plan to cull thousands of state's cormorants

Associated Press March 17, 2005 CORMORANTS0318



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DULUTH, Minn. * Crews could start shooting thousands of cormorants and sterilizing their eggs on Leech Lake this summer as state and federal wildlife agencies try to mitigate the effect of the birds on the walleye population.



Lee Pfannmuller, director of ecological services for the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, said efforts could include rubbing vegetable oil on eggs. Adults will continue to sit on the eggs and won't try to re-nest, but the eggs never hatch.



A proposal to thin the population of the lake by thousands of birds was made in January and on Wednesday the U.S. Department of Agriculture released its environmental assessment of it.



The federal government will ask for public to comment over 30 days on a range of alternatives from doing nothing to using nonlethal methods of reducing the population of the birds, which eat about a pound of fish each day.



However, the federal government's preferred plan is to reduce by about 80 percent the number of nesting pairs on the lake from more than 2,500. The birds are normally protected by federal law.



"The preferred alternative's goal is to have fewer than 500 nesting pairs on Leech Lake,'' said Rachel Levin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Twin Cities.



The Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe will take the lead on the project with cooperation from the Minnesota DNR federal Agriculture Department's animal damage control unit, which do the work.



Various methods have tried to control the numbers of the native birds, which have made a remarkable comeback in the past 20 years across the Great Lakes and Canada after DDT nearly wiped out the species.



Wildlife officials have tried to scare them away from their nesting grounds, but it didn't work. Last year crews tried to remove nesting materials from the birds' island "but their numbers still doubled,'' said John Ringle, fish and wildlife director for the Leech Lake Band.



There were nearly 10,000 cormorants on Leech Lake last year, including juveniles and non-nesting adults, nearly all of which nest on Little Pelican Island, located on Leech Lake band property.



The fish consumption of the birds is blamed by some angry anglers and tourist businesses for the depletion of the lakes once-famous walleye population. By some estimates, the birds could be eating more than a ton of fish a day.



"It's clear we have a problem. I fish the lake a lot and there aren't any smaller walleyes out there. Something is taking them out,'' Ringle said. "We know cormorants eat some walleye and perch. We don't know how much. ... But the fact the big drop in walleye hit at the same time the cormorants are increasing can't be just a coincidence.''



Officials said they weren't sure the big black birds were the main culprit for the walleye decline, but they had enough evidence to act.



"There's compelling enough evidence with the fisheries decline and the tern situation to warrant some strong action,'' Pfannmuller said.



An international migratory bird treaty protects the birds, but a 2003 federal rule allows states to take action to deplete the flocks if they are harming natural resources.



In Minnesota, the rule allows up to 7,500 of the 16,000 birds in the state to be killed.

Originally posted by: L.M. Ray on 3/17/2005 7:54:06 PM

They're already doing it in Canada, and Leech Lake has been a real problem. I usually fish there a couple of times a year and the walleye fishing has really gone downhill.

Originally posted by: bull_bluegill on 3/31/2005 5:43:47 AM

Its about time. I remember a couple years ago a group of guys took matters into there own hands. I read an article about 'em, but can't remember what lake it was on. They went out to a little island where the buggers were roosting, and shot the hell out of a flock of them. Then they got arrested for it.
Go figure.......

Originally posted by: WalleyeWayne on 3/31/2005 6:52:28 AM

I've been on this bandwagon for the last 5 years, or so, and will do everything I can to help cull these birds of destruction <!--graemlin::mad:-->.

Originally posted by: davesett2000 on 4/1/2005 1:01:41 PM

It's about time <!--graemlin::eek:-->

Thanks for some GOOD news Ray <!--graemlin::cool:-->

Originally posted by: papa_d on 4/7/2005 12:01:46 PM

YOU GUYS ARNT THE ONLY ONES HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THESE THINGS. OUR LOCAL FISHERMEN TEAR UP THE NESTS AND SMASH THE EGGS EVERY TIME SOME ARE FOUND. I DON'T THINK IT'S REALLY DOING ANY GOOD. THE DA@%*+$!@^&*#$ THINGS ARE LIKE GOBIES. THEY JUST KEEP ON SPREADING. I'D LOVE TO SEE A FEW HUNDRED EAGLES MOVE INTO THE AREA. WE DO HAVE ABOUT 6-8 FAMILYS NOW; AND THEY KICK THE CORRANTS BUTTS. <!--graemlin::D-->

Originally posted by: davesett2000 on 4/8/2005 9:24:55 AM

That's GOOD news TOO papa_d <!--graemlin::D--> <!--graemlin::cool:-->

Originally posted by: L.M. Ray on 4/9/2005 9:01:56 AM

NEW: Cormorants: From the endangered species list to the hit list
Spiel -- Thu, Apr/7/05

Drop the Fish or We'll Shoot

by Mike Mosedale
April 6, 2005

One summer night in 1998, five shotgun-toting fishing guides from upstate New York took a long boat ride to a remote bird sanctuary on Lake Ontario called Little Galloo Island. The barren, guano-covered scrap of land was home to Lake Ontario's main colony of double-crested cormorants--large fish-eating birds that many anglers blamed for a downturn in the smallmouth bass populations.

In the course of a few hours, the men proceeded to shoot about 850 of the birds, blasting them from their nests and leaving the chicks to starve. Ultimately, all five men were prosecuted for violating the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act, fined, and placed under house arrest. But in the view of many locals, the perpetrators weren't criminals; they were heroes, only doing what was necessary to protect their livelihoods and the health of the fishery. Fundraisers were held to help pay off the fines.

While a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesman denounced the Little Galloo shootings as "inhumane," the agency--flooded with complaints about cormorants--already had plans in place for a more radical culling of Little Galloo's surging cormorant population. In the years since then, tens of thousands of cormorants nationwide have been killed legally under so-called "depredation orders" designed to protect game and farm fish from the big birds.

In the view of the cormorants' advocates, the government's shifting management approach to the species is a matter of considerable bitterness. Historically, the persecution of cormorants--both government-sanctioned and vigilante--resulted in the species' disappearance from much of its natural range. Like eagles, ospreys, and other winged predators, cormorants wound up on the endangered species list as a result of exposure to the pesticide DDT.

Over the past several decades, thanks to the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the banning of DDT, the cormorant staged a remarkable recovery. In Minnesota, the birds have now established at least 38 colonies, the largest of which is located at Leech Lake, a popular north central Minnesota fishing destination. In recent years, the Leech Lake colony--established on a barren scrap of land called Little Pelican Island--has swelled from just 73 nesting pairs in 1998 to over 2,500 pairs last year. As the cormorants became increasingly visible, fishing started to get worse. Frustrated fishermen claimed it was cause and effect.

Last month, the Fish and Wildlife Service--in conjunction with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and the Department of Agriculture--released a proposed solution: a plan to reduce the Leech Lake colony by approximately 80 percent. The rationale? Though it admits to a "lack of specific data" on what the birds are eating, the Fish and Wildlife Service points to "indications that [cormorants] may have impacted some walleye year classes and perhaps yellow perch populations."

In the view of Linda Wires, a cormorant researcher at the University of Minnesota, such uncertainty calls for further study, not an 80 percent reduction in the breeding population of a native species just now making a comeback. Wires, who conducted the state's first cormorant census last year, acknowledges that there has been a pronounced decline in the population of young walleye and adult yellow perch in Leech Lake in recent years--but notes that the decline started before the dramatic uptick in the cormorant population.

Historically, cormorants have been the object of unusual and virulent hatred. In North America, there is no other bird so fiercely despised. In his 1929 thesis, "The Natural History of the Double Crested Cormorant," Harrison Lewis wrote that the cormorant "is by no means as unpleasant as it has been painted but is actually a reputable avian citizen, not without intelligence, amiability, and interest." Then as now, that remains a minority opinion. On internet fishing forums, anglers make outright calls for their extirpation. "I say kill 'em all and get rid of the worthless birds," one Leech Lake fisherman posted recently on fishingminnesota.com. "You can't tell me that anyone cares about those ugly things."

Such sentiments are unfair, counters Gerald Winegrad, the vice president for policy for the American Bird Conservancy. He points out that the vast majority of peer-reviewed studies have concluded that cormorants have only a minor effect on the fish species sought by sport anglers. In 2002, the American Ornithological Union--which has a reputation as a relatively apolitical, science-driven body--issued a statement declaring that "every study for about a century has shown that cormorants do not impact significantly the demography of desirable fish, except at very small scales."

The fishing public has not bought it. As a result, government managers have increasingly bowed to public and industry complaints, and authorized cormorant kills--sometimes with little or no scientific justification. Winegrad points to a USDA "management" program in Washington state. From 1997 to 2002, more than 5,000 cormorants were killed on the Columbia River in an effort to protect salmon. The program was discontinued, Winegrad says, after researchers analyzed the stomach contents of the dead cormorants. It turned out they were not eating many salmon--but they were consuming plenty of pikeminnows, a species known to prey heavily on juvenile salmon.

Francesca Cuthbert, a professor in the Department of Fisheries and Wildlife at the University of Minnesota, says that fisheries biologists have made a strong "circumstantial" case that cormorants at Leech Lake are hurting walleye and yellow perch populations. In trawling studies last year, for instance, researchers were unable to find young-of-the-year walleyes on Leech Lake; those results stood in sharp contrast to the findings in nearby lakes with similar ecologies but no cormorants. That said, Cuthbert still believes more research is in order before Leech Lake's cormorants are put before the firing squad. "Fisheries are in decline all over the world, and in almost every case, human overfishing is the cause," she says.

Bette Stallman, a wildlife scientist with the Humane Society of the United States--which filed suit against the U.S. government in February over cormorant management policies--is bothered by the precedent of killing wildlife that fishermen happen not to like. "This is going to create a precedent. It's going to be cormorants today, and it's going to be pelicans next time," she theorizes. Indeed, like cormorants, white pelicans have staged a comeback in Minnesota. While the birds do not congregate at the same densities as cormorants--and don't look so menacing--they eat on average four times as many fish as cormorants. At fish farms and rearing ponds, where bite-size fishes are plentiful and easy to snatch, flocks of cormorants and pelicans often clean out the inventory.

Whether the birds are capable of causing the same sort of damage to natural lakes--and natural fish populations--remains a subject of debate. "If you asked me that two or three years ago, I would have said no," says Steve Mortensen, a biologist who works for the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe. But Mortensen thinks that Leech Lake may be one of the relatively rare bodies of water where cormorants are causing significant damage to the fishery.

"Obviously, something is going on with the walleyes," he says. "We don't have any evidence that the cormorants are causing it, but we can't find any other explanations, either." They'll get their answer this summer when the culling begins and researchers get to see what's in the guts of the dead birds.

Originally posted by: L.M. Ray on 4/17/2005 7:22:22 AM

Just got this off another site.
Ray

This is the press release sent out by the walker area Reps about their stocking fight with Mr Henrey Drews the fish expert. I want to thank the Mayor of Walker for sending this off to me.



Contact: Larry Jacobson
Leech Lake Association
Fishing Task Force
Phone 218-547-1510
Fax 218-547-3447
Email hiawatha@djam.com Leech Lake Assn.
Fishing Task Force
Press Release
Leech Lake Association Fishing Task Force declares DNR stocking insufficient
Fifteen businesses close in Walker in two years, Leech Lake Resort reservations down 90 percent for 2005 Fishing Opener.
• Walker, MN, April 15, 2005: The Minnesota DNR believes that Leech Lake needs a good year class in at least 2 years out of 5 to maintain a quality walleye fishery, but there has not been a decent year class in the last 7 years. The problem is believed to be caused by thousands of Cormorants that have been nesting on Leech Lake. The bird eats a pound of fish a day and 10,000 Cormorants are now calling Leech Lake home. An effort is now underway to try to control those numbers. The Cormorants have drastically reduced the yellow perch and walleye numbers in the main eastern basin of Leech Lake. The main basin is ideal shallow water fishing grounds for the bird. Despite the lack of natural reproduction the DNR’s Action Plan calls for stocking only 5 million walleye fry, less than 10 percent of what the number should be to produce a good year class.
“We are extremely disappointed in the DNR’s efforts to bolster the Leech Lake walleye fishery," stated Walker Mayor Brad Walhof. “When Red Lake had problems the DNR stocked 30 to 40 million fry per year over several years. Why should Leech Lake be treated differently? We view the stocking as an insurance policy. We have no assurance that there will be a good year class this year. By stocking these fry in optimal locations we can boost their odds for survival.”
Larry Jacobson, owner of Hiawatha Beach Resort on Leech Lake said, “Five million marked fry are going to be put in Leech Lake only as a study of stocking success. Leech has not had a successful year class in seven years. We cannot accept the wait and see attitude that comes from the Bemidji DNR Office. Leech Lake needs production stocking. Leech Lake needs fry now,” Jacobson noted that May resort reservations on Leech are down 90 percent for 2005.
Walker businessman Jeff Holly said, “The Leech Lake walleye recovery effort is going to take three to five years and we’ve lost 15 businesses in the last two years. We can’t wait any longer. We need help now. We have no more years to lose.”
Larry Anderson, a retired teacher and guide on Leech Lake is also Chairman of the Leech Lake Association Fishing Task Force and stated, “The launch service I work for has no reservations for the 2005 fishing opener. The bad press we have received is keeping people away. The western basins of Leech Lake still have walleyes but are the second lowest in recorded history. We need an all out stocking effort now. Businesses, Resorts, Civic Groups, County, City, Township governments, and the Leech Lake Reservation plus citizens from all over the state are supporting the effort to stock more fry in Leech Lake. The only opposition we have is from our own DNR. No one understands why the DNR would not put on an all out effort to help Minnesota’s third largest inland lake.”
As a rule the DNR stocks at a rate of 1,000 fry per littoral acre. Leech, having 58,000 littoral acres, could receive 58 million fry if production stocked to the DNR standard. The DNR contends that there is plenty of brood stock left to produce walleye fry naturally in the lake this season, but a memo from Pat Rivers DNR Large Lake Specialist for Leech Lake projects a hatch of only 10 to 25 million fry naturally this year.
“Quite frankly we’ve been given so many conflicting numbers by the local DNR Office in Bemidji that I don’t believe any of them anymore and that is a shame,” said Mayor Walhof. “Henry Drewes, DNR Regional Fisheries Manager in Bemidji, is calling the Red Lake recovery nothing short of phenomenal but he will not help Leech Lake. The recovery of Red Lake was all due to stocking. Maybe we should blame global warming for our troubles on Leech Lake. That’s what Henry did in the Outdoor News,”
After meetings this winter on Cormorant control, stocking, regulations and habitat held at the Walker-Hackensack-Akeley Schools, Harlan Fierstine, Walker Fisheries Supervisor, was quoted as saying, “We got the message loud and clear that people want to see a proactive, holistic management plan for improving the walleye fishery on Leech Lake.”
The people of the Leech Lake Area and the State of Minnesota are still waiting for that message to get through and time is running out.


I guess the cat is getting out of the bag!

Thanks,

Tom Nightingale

Originally posted by: L.M. Ray on 5/17/2005 3:01:10 PM

I wanna date this post so they don't lock it yet. Need it open for the next update.

Originally posted by: Greymist on 5/18/2005 5:16:54 AM

L.M. Ray,
According to a paper I read yesterday (Outdoor News, 5/13/05 issue), they have culled 800 so far. The goal is to kill 80% on Little Pelican Island that has a population 4,000+ cormorants on it, by the end of May (when the Terns come to the island to nest).

Originally posted by: L.M. Ray on 5/18/2005 11:29:11 AM

That'll be great. I'm going up there June 3.

Originally posted by: Greymist on 5/18/2005 11:35:40 AM

You're going up there, Wayne's coming down here, I'm going crazy...LOL. Man this is gonna be a busy year of fishing!! What a problem to have!!! ROFL

Originally posted by: WalleyeWayne on 5/18/2005 11:45:27 AM

It's a prime example of what can happen when people banter back & forth on this site <!--graemlin:;)-->

Originally posted by: Greymist on 5/18/2005 11:56:57 AM

Yup...somewhere on my busy schedule, I'm gonna have to pencil in "work".
NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by: WalleyeWayne on 5/19/2005 4:38:07 AM

Maybe we should all pencil in a day or two to help with some of that culling also <!--graemlin:;)-->

Originally posted by: Jim on 5/22/2005 5:55:15 AM

I hear ya Walleye Wayne. That would be a blast popping a few of those big birds. Besides there are about 500 rounds of 12 gauge shells around here now that should be used. (Seems everytime I go to the sporting department I think I need more.)

Originally posted by: Greymist on 6/2/2005 6:57:46 AM

According to the Outdoor News of 05/27/05, as of that date 2,000+ cormorants have been killed.
The hunt will go on once or twice a week until the middle of June. <!--graemlin::D-->
Keep a poppin' em guys <!--graemlin::D-->

Originally posted by: davesett2000 on 6/3/2005 9:57:40 AM

"Pop 'till they drop" <!--graemlin::D--> <!--graemlin::eek:-->