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Author Topic: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......  (Read 1947 times)

Offline Blackink

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Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« on: Mar 15, 2015, 05:20 PM »
I saw this news posting on WCAX.com tonight. What are other peoples thoughts on this: Agree? or Disagree?

LAKE CHAMPLAIN - A growing cormorant population on Lake Champlain is hurting certain fish species.

http://www.wcax.com/story/28524411/cormorants-appetite-hurts-fish-population

Offline VTMatt

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #1 on: Mar 15, 2015, 05:38 PM »
If anyone's ever seen these guys ravage the Winooski after the stocking in the Spring your be tempted to blast a few. I'm talking hundreds of them.

Offline bootstrap

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #2 on: Mar 15, 2015, 05:43 PM »
this problem should have been dealt with years and years ago. they will throw money at this with little to no results when we all know what the simple solution is. government has no problem shooting geese and ducks that are close to airports.

Offline Champlain Islander

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #3 on: Mar 15, 2015, 06:03 PM »
Saw that and also saw the Burlington Free press piece on them in today's local rag. I have talked with a friend, Paul Dunkling, who is one of the most knowledgeable people I know about Lake Champlain pan fish. The Feds have indeed created a problem for us on the state level and refuse through budget cuts to carry through on any solutions. The only thing I can say is email or call your federal representatives and voice your disapproval. Allowed to colonize cormorants will de denude any living plant on their chosen rookeries and will decimate the perch population. Those invasive birds are a threat to what we all love on our lakes.
Taught ice fishing for pan fish by one of the best...Art Rye may he RIP

Offline fishy1

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #4 on: Mar 15, 2015, 06:09 PM »
this is old news and cormorants are everywhere including rivers ponds and even little streams. so its just not perch there eating there eating $$$$$$$$$$ of stocked trout. i have seen cormorants 30 miles away from lake champlain in little ponds and rivers. in the spring and fall the bays are all black with cormorants diving and eating fish. i agree with vt matt because i have seen it many times on the ny side in champlain tributaries.  all of  as fisherman need to band together some more and keep in contact with the legislatures and so on to put pressure on them to somehow come to a solution if its not to late. the lake champlain united forum has some good posts on cormorants started by paul dunkling who is spearheading the fight of cormorant control in vermont for lake champlain.

Offline spot

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #5 on: Mar 16, 2015, 06:26 AM »
If you've watched hundreds of them sweep a bay clean you know that this shouldn't be news... it should have been common knowledge 15 years ago.

I think the solution is roast cormorant for everybody. :tipup:
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline tracker one

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #6 on: Mar 16, 2015, 07:40 AM »
all we need to do is make it legal to shoot cormorants any time of year and we could fix this ourselves

Offline bootstrap

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #7 on: Mar 16, 2015, 08:06 AM »
im not sure there should be lead flying all year. some where in the middle of nothing and all out open season should be done.

Offline spot

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #8 on: Mar 16, 2015, 08:13 AM »
A spring season would work. The lake is pretty uncrowded in April.

The birds fly South in September, so spring is when it'd need to happen.

May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline NEK_VT

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #9 on: Mar 16, 2015, 09:20 AM »
It sounds like they have a nice diet of perch and trout... they should be pretty tasty.

Offline troutcrazy

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #10 on: Mar 16, 2015, 12:22 PM »
Here's a good article, very recent too:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/life/green-mountain/2015/03/15/cormorant-control-tied-money/24766775/#_=_

According to the Freepress article, the state can't open a hunting season because of a "migratory bird treaty". 

Offline CHAMP04

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #11 on: Mar 16, 2015, 12:27 PM »
There's a reason why Shelburne Bay was a huge smelt spot then the cormorants moved in and now there non-existent. 

Offline spot

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #12 on: Mar 16, 2015, 02:50 PM »
As migratory birds, any hunting would have to involve federal oversight too, but obviously they CAN do it, if they want to, since we're able to put ducks and geese on the table every fall.

I hear cormorants taste like duck, and duck is very good roasted. :)
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline fishy1

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #13 on: Mar 16, 2015, 03:45 PM »
they have seasons on mergansers that eat fish so why not cormorants. fish eating mergansers taste terrible.

Offline spot

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #14 on: Mar 16, 2015, 04:01 PM »
I've got a neighbor who swears that very same thing, which is why I learned how to cook those and make them taste really good- because he gives me the ones he gets. :)
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline fishy1

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #15 on: Mar 16, 2015, 04:06 PM »
I've got a neighbor who swears that very same thing, which is why I learned how to cook those and make them taste really good- because he gives me the ones he gets. :)
whats your secret? no matter what merganser i kept and my wife cooked we disliked alot compared to mallards wood ducks and so on.

Offline spot

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #16 on: Mar 16, 2015, 05:08 PM »
If I'm roasting them I brine them overnight first, and then poke holes in their skin with a fork, then I sprinkle on a bit of dry mustard and boullion powder and later a bit of olive oil.

Otherwise I make a noodle soup with hot peppers and a chopped up tomato from the garden. Everybody likes it, or at least they want more of it. :)

Never eaten cormorant, but I'd be up to trying it.

May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline thayercrazy8

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #17 on: Mar 17, 2015, 05:23 AM »
hey bootstrap I heard u know how to catch hogs. do u think I can come and fish w u.

Offline pokholes

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #18 on: Mar 17, 2015, 06:18 AM »
Soak them in milk to remove the fish taste then brine them. Not bad eating then.

Offline Lord_of_the_Perch

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #19 on: Mar 17, 2015, 07:04 AM »
Mergansers make Whistlers taste good. I haven't shot one since I was a kid. I can't believe anyone would even consider Cormorants for table fair even if it were legal.

Offline spot

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #20 on: Mar 17, 2015, 07:20 AM »
Mergansers make Whistlers taste good. I haven't shot one since I was a kid. I can't believe anyone would even consider Cormorants for table fair even if it were legal.

If I kill it, and it's reasonable to eat it, there's nothing else to do with it.

I don't like wasting things, so were they to legalize shooting cormorants, I'd certainly go and do my share in controlling their population, and then I'd take them home and eat the @#@@#@%*&s.

As far as I know, they are eaten in other places. :)
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline Panfish hauler

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #21 on: Mar 19, 2015, 05:56 PM »
  Here is something to think about 6000 Cormorants feeding in Shelburne Bay for 2 months straight this summer some studies say they eat a pound a day and other say up to 7 lbs a day so to be objective lets say 3 lbs a day that's 18,000 lbs of fish a day for 60 days that's more than 1 million pounds of fish in 2 months time out of that area now does anyone see why there are no fish left in Shelburne Bay

Offline Blackink

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #22 on: Mar 19, 2015, 07:00 PM »
I think we need an open season on them Cormorants....


Offline williev18

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #23 on: Mar 19, 2015, 07:41 PM »
could bring back DDT pesticides, they seemed to work pretty well the first time  ;D If not bring in a few nesting pairs of Bald Eagles, tell you what over here on the CT river nothing scatters the cormorants faster than a bald eagle.

Offline spot

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #24 on: Mar 28, 2015, 07:22 AM »
could bring back DDT pesticides, they seemed to work pretty well the first time  ;D If not bring in a few nesting pairs of Bald Eagles, tell you what over here on the CT river nothing scatters the cormorants faster than a bald eagle.

A blast from a 12 gauge should scatter them quite effectively too. ;)
May the fish be with you.

Randy

Offline Eaglecrg

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Re: Cormorant appetites hurts fish population......
« Reply #25 on: Mar 28, 2015, 07:49 AM »
A number of year ago these birds infested some areas on the St. Lawrence River.  A couple of guys went out to the island where they were nesting (at night if I recall correctly) and killed a bunch of them.  They got caught and there was a defense fund posted immediately on the internet.  From what I hear, it fully funded their defense in short order--fishermen contributed by the droves.  I do recall seeing reports of the massacre but can't validate the defense fund part, though I heard it from several sources.  These birds also will decimate walleye populations from what I've heard.  A pair of nestin loons (with one or two young) will consume 1500 pounds of fish per season (before flying south).  I'd venture to say that Cormorants will do the same--you do the math.

 



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