If you have never heard of the double-crested cormorant, you had better start Googling!
For those of us in Eastern Ontario, you will not need to travel far to find one of these birds during the summertime. For residents of southern and south-western Ontario, the cormorant has virtual taken over the landscape! They are like a roving swarm of locusts which have descended on the Great Lakes and any other lake or river in their path.
And boy can they devour fish like their going out of style!
According to the OFAH:
“Cormorant numbers are 250-times historic population records. Each cormorant eats a minimum of one-pound of fish per day; in other words, it takes about three yellow perch to feed the cormorants’ voracious daily appetite.”
And what are the effects of these mangy birds on a provincial scale?
“In Ontario, the net effect is over 42 million pounds of fish consumed by cormorants each year. Worse than what cormorants take is what they leave behind – that is, only the skeletons of mature shoreline trees. Cormorant droppings are so toxic they have destroyed thousands of miles of precious shoreline habitat.”
So, after receiving the below photographs from no less than 12 people over the past two weeks, I figured it was about time I post them here at the Outdoors Guy.
The images are as plain as the nose on your face and speak a thousand words as to the devastation these homely black birds are causing:
Please be warned the images you are about to see are graphic in nature (and just imagine how the fish feel) These pics originate from the US, however, the effect on Canadian fish remains the same:
These fish-eating machines make short work of anything in their path. Even a good-sized walleye is no match for the cormorant’s powerful bite:
The damage caused by double-crested cormorant predation is equivalent to black death for our fish populations and something needs to be done.
Sure, the zebra mussels filtered out the zooplankton and cleared up our waters, but these marauding birds are quickly cleaning-out every baitfish and finned-creature they can fit in their greedy grasp.
What can be done, you ask?
Well, you could sign the petition to support Bill 156 for starters. This is a private members Bill to remove cormorant protection and hopefully get the wheels in motion to control these pesky fish-eaters once and for all.
Click on the OFAH link below to sign the petition:
http://www.ofah.org/cormorants/bill156.cfm
Outdoorsguy