My email from the DWR with their weekly fishing report arrived today. I live in Spring Lake so I always check the report on the Spring Lake pond. I already knew the lake had been planted recently because the cormorants were all over the lake. It is commonly believed by many locals that the cormorants have learned to follow the DWR trucks from the hatchery to their destination. They feed well.
Anyway, the report noted that; "The pond is being frequented by double-crested cormorants. DWR is taking measures to address the situation." Hmmm... I wonder how they "address" the situation? I believe the cormorants are protected?? Can they shoot them? I'm sure I would do time in jail if I shot one and I have been sorely tempted to take the chance a few times. I know of one guy who fishes the lake regularly and he always carries at least three rods him and one of his "rods" does not have any line on it.
The pelicans usually show up shortly after the cormorants. I'm sure they will get the word and show up this weekend. I think the cormorants out fish the pelicans 10 to 1 at least. Lots of paired up mallards on the lake now too and the Canadians even put in an appearance now and then.
Anybody know how the DWR addresses the cormorant problem? Now if they would let me take a hand full of .22 shorts down there and.... naaa.... that ain't never gonna happen. It's a popular fishing area for the kids so I hope the cormorants leave a few for them.
I don't like cormorants.
BLK
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I don't know how dwr in utah deals with cormorants, but I do know permits can be obtained from USF&WS to remove them when they become a problem. This is usually in the case of protecting endangered species or fish farms.
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[#0000FF]I seem to remember that we had a discussion (cuss session) about cormorants and pelicans a couple of weeks back when we went bait gathering.
Lots of folks don't realize how many fish these birds eat...or how big of fish they can kill. There are several of the community ponds that are literally cleaned out within hours of being replanted for the kids to fish.
Here are some interesting pics.
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[inline "GOOD CORMORANT.jpg"]
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Maybe we could have one as a pet, tie a line around it's leg, put a little choker around it's neck, then send it down as we're sitting in our boat with a tall cool one, and just pull out the fish from it's mouth when we pull it back up[cool] ...Wait, that's already being done in Asia...maybe they should just be de-listed from the protected birds, like the crows here recently...wouldn't have to be forever, just to lower their numbers by about 99%...I don't like them either...[mad]
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I've watched them eat so many planters at Razor Ridge community pond in Washington that they can't even fly. They try to take off and can't do it. It's almost comical to watch them.
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Maybe there is a sharp shooter program some could apply for. Like the urban deer culls. That would be kinda cool.
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TD-- I do remember our bait fetchin' trip and talking about the bad things those cormorants and pelicans do to fish populations. As I recall it was during a BS session we had... BS, for the most part, referencing Benjamin Slough.[
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You mentioned finding the head and neck of a cormorant in the tummy of a channel cat. Every time I think of that I get this mental visual of a cormorant diving for a channel cat meal and finding himself on the losing end. That would have been an interesting battle to witness but it was probably more likely that the cormorant was long dead before he ended up as cat food. Who knows?
Bad birds.
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I suppose the bird lovers and bird watchers don't really see this as a "problem" like us fisherman do.
Similar thing going on in my state (WY) with wolves... all the elk hunters get all bent out of shape when wolves kill an elk but there are just as many people who love seeing wolves and seeing them thrive.
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Good point Gem.
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A trick that fish farms use is to kill one Cormorant and hang it up side down by it's leg on a long pole out over the water.
Works good to keep them away on a smaller body of water. It also works for Seagulls.
Cormorants and Carp, are the worst.
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The Community pond in Roy had had a cormorant problem for several years.
The DWR had tried several different approaches in trying to deter the birds.
They placed floating cages in the water with mesh wire where the smaller fish can hide from the birds.
They have given the city a pyro gun that shoots of loud charges to scare the birds.
Other things have also been tried at the pond.
All of these things work to a degree.
In some years, the DWR has contacted the Feds for help in removal of some of the more persistent birds.
With the cormorant being a federally protected bird, the hands of the DWR are tied and they can do little to get rid of the birds.
The birds are a problem in the spring and by late summer most of them have migrated out of the area.
Some of them do stay around all year though.
These are the birds that the Feds are requested to help remove.
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"You mentioned finding the head and neck of a cormorant in the tummy of a channel cat. Every time I think of that I get this mental visual of a cormorant diving for a channel cat meal and finding himself on the losing end. That would have been an interesting battle to witness but it was probably more likely that the cormorant was long dead before he ended up as cat food. Who knows?"
[#0000FF]My guess is that the cormorant died and the cat did a grab and "death roll" to separate the neck from the rest of the carcass. Kinda like a gator.
I have also found whole small chickens inside fat cats. I suspect some upstream farmer simply disposed of a dead one in the Provo River.
Yeah, cats will slurp up almost anything they can get in their mouths. But in clearer water they do a lot of hunting for live stuff too.
Talk about battles. I have witnessed overly enthusiastic pelicans trying to snarf some pretty large carp at times. Funny to watch the carp flopping around and beating the stuffin' out of the pelican...until it gives up, spits out the carp and goes staggering off to try a smaller one.
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More years ago than I care to count, I made a good friend who was the White Pine County Nev. game warden. The county had a couple rearing ponds on the Swallow Ranch in Spring Valley east of Ely. A couple cormorants set up housekeeping there and were eating up the cutthroat fry.
My friend got some goldfish which he hooked with a small treble hook and just enough line so the fish couldn't get to the surface. He tied the line to a good sized rock and chucked it into the pond. He put several of them out there and pretty soon the cormorants disappeared???
I suggested that to a fellow on the Nevada board who was complaining about the cormorants cleaning out the urban ponds in Las Vegas. Did it kinda "
in cheek" but still got thoroughly raked over the coals by others who took huge offense to the idea.
Whaddya think Utah board members?
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You want to see Cormorants, check out the trees by Hobble Creek, just off the first Springville exit. There is a huge colony nesting there. They do all kinds of damage to fisheries everywhere. Biggest problem is that both Cormorants and Pelicans are federally/internationally protected species. I doubt that DWR can make a case to be able to control them, especially adults. The most common form of control is to oil the eggs after being laid. Rubbiing the shells with vegetable oil smothers the embryo, but the female does not relay, which she will do if the eggs are destroyed. The Great Lakes States have a control program, but it is limited.
DWR in Springville had a huge problem with Cormorants, Herons, gulls, etc at the Hatchery. The had covers on the raceways, but eventually had to go to electrically charged wires over the raceways. One wire was charged and when the bird would stand on the wire, then dip it's beak in the water, ZAP.
There are several nesting areas in the state for both Cormorants and Pelicans, but I do not believe that any control measures are being taken at this time. May be one of the DWR guys on the board can give us more info !!
There is very little local control when it comes to migratory birds, case in point, Doves. Why is Utah relegated to a 2wk season when south of us, they can shoot doves for 6-8 wks. Also, why are we limited to a Sept 1 starting date, when it usually storms about that time of year and drives all the birds south. Mexico is even worse, they shoot em for about 4 months down there !! WHY??
Enough rambling, some control would be nice however !!!
Cormorants, like wolves, like coyotes, like rattlesnakes, like the Zeka Mosquitoe....they just aren't a big enough problem to the majority of the population, and it only becomes a problem to them " When They Get Bit"....of course, then they wonder why "something" wasn't being done to prevent their discomfort...Geezer's idea? I wouldn't, and probably others wouldn't, condone outright illegal actions, but the military I belonged to did condone a certain amount of "don't ask, don't tell" activity....then is it worth getting caught, or is there a snitch watching? I don't know, tough call, and bigger problem for us fishermen, not the general public...sort of like the phragmites being a huge problem for us duck hunters, but the general public doesn't give tinkers darn...so that problem also persists...
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I'm pretty sure I will get skewered on here, but I like watching the cormorants and especially the pelicans. I would submit that in most bodies of water, they do no or little damage. Certainly, Utah lake can handle a little predation from birds when it continues to kick out its bounty in the face of the human "happy harvesters" and others harvesting large numbers of fish and getting others all worked up on message boards every year. I pass by the cormorant roost several times a week and the pelicans love to rest on that lake next to the golf course there. I like to watch them.
In other fisheries where there are cormorant predation issues, management practices can usually minimize the effects. This is done at Minersville, where they plant the trout at a certain time of year and size to greatly reduce the problem. As DKS said, there have been different things that have been done at community ponds to help too. One I heard of was buzzing the birds with RC boats. I heard it was working when tried.
All that said, if there is truly a legitimate problem that is not solved by other means, I have no objections to using more "final" means to protecting important fisheries. However, I suspect the need to do it is fairly rare.
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one solution to cormorants is to change fishing regulations to try to get fish outside of their preferred feeding size.
Anyone ever heard of Minersville Reservoir??
Here is a nice report on cormorants in southern Utah:
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Quote:one solution to cormorants is to change fishing regulations to try to get fish outside of their preferred feeding size.
A little bit tougher to do at Community ponds.
The only good Cormorant is a dead Cormorant. Same goes for Pelicans.
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I didn't say it was a good solution.
when my father retired he was presented with a framed picture of himself. He was triumphantly holding a dead cormorant by the neck!
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The only good Cormorant is a dead Cormorant. Same goes for Pelicans.
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You guys sound like the deer hunters that want to exterminate the cougars and think that action will lead to indefinite sustained incredible hunting. [
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