cormorants and trout plants

[singleshot12]

Noticed most of the year around low land lakes have been stocked with planters. Also noticed the abundance of cormorants feasting on the newly planted trout. Most lakes have 20-30 birds but some have 50-60. Wonder how many rainbows one bird eats a day a limit of 5 you suppose? My guess is say if a lake has 3000 planted trout the cormorants consume about half that. Seems a big waste of our money and also seems these lakes should be planted after these awful birds have migrated on.
Atleast the majority of these birds are filling there gut with plants vs. native steelhead and chinook smolts I suppose but. Maybe that's the plan But every year there are more and they have no natural predator that I'm aware of.
Just another invasive species that our wonderful state protects. In a logical perfect world there would be a bounty on these birds until there is a balance.

[Curly]

They are federally protected.  But I wish the State could pressure the feds to get the law changed to allow shooting those damn fish eaters.  The only problem is most of the lowland lakes you can't shoot on them, so the cormorants will still be showing up even if they could legally be killed.  But it would maybe help thin the population if they were allowed to be shot on sight anywhere it was legal to do so.

[Maverick]

I never understood why they're protected. I mean all the hype about dams, bass and walleye, killing salmon and steelhead. But how any get eaten by all the cormorants, pelicans, any other birds that eat fish. Let people shoot some birds and it will help the fish. Sick of seeing cormorants in stocked lakes but seeing them there does let me know if the lake has recently been stocked or not 

[Bullkllr]

Can you imagine how effective a "cormorant trot-line" could be?

[bobcat]

How about stop planting the lakes with little trout and feeding the cormorants?


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[Curly]

How about stop planting the lakes with little trout and feeding the cormorants?


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or how about a governor that tells enforcement to not bother writing someone up for shooting cormorants on sight.  They ought to be treated like coyotes..........

You know, like the ID governor who told his guys not to enforce laws regarding killing wolves.  Sometimes these stupid Federal rules need to be broken if they are stupid laws.

[Humptulips]

It makes a good picture that cormorant with that big fish but I think the real damage is done by all the smaller fish that get eaten.
As an example I did an otter removal out of a fish hatchery. There were 5 otters and they were eating 5000 to 7000 fish every night. It takes a lot of these small fish to fill a predator up.
I also did a removal for the Quinaults at their net pens one year. They had a loss of 200,000 salmon per year from predation from herons, otters, and cormorants combined.

[singleshot12]

How about stop planting the lakes with little trout and feeding the cormorants?


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Keep planting but later on in April after the stinkin cormorants have migrated. Lakes would have a lot more hold over action going on the following year. The hold overs are what we need for fishing.

But like I said before maybe we are just paying to keep the cormorants fed for now to help keep them off the bays and rivers . Not sure if WDFW thinks that far ahead tho

[singleshot12]

It makes a good picture that cormorant with that big fish but I think the real damage is done by all the smaller fish that get eaten.
As an example I did an otter removal out of a fish hatchery. There were 5 otters and they were eating 5000 to 7000 fish every night. It takes a lot of these small fish to fill a predator up.
I also did a removal for the Quinaults at their net pens one year. They had a loss of 200,000 salmon per year from predation from herons, otters, and cormorants combined.

Atleast we can trap otters. Herons are a problem too just as seals. Predators of all kinds simply need to be managed correctly.

[denali]

not going to help planted trout but it's a start 




The action will occur at McNary Dam on the Columbia River and Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams on the Snake River.

CLARKSTON, Wash. (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers this spring will begin killing birds at some Snake and Columbia river dams to help protect juvenile salmon and steelhead.

The agency unveiled a plan Thursday that will allow as many as 1,200 California gulls, 650 ring-billed gulls and 150 double-crested cormorants to be killed.

The Lewiston Tribune says the action will occur at McNary Dam on the Columbia River and Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams on the Snake River.

The corps says birds are typically the single largest cause of juvenile salmon and steelhead mortality. A 2009 study estimated that between 4 percent and 21 percent of smolts passing through the dams are eaten by birds.

The corps has long used non-lethal methods to scare away birds.


- See more at: http://www.capitalpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2014140329886&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+capitalpress%2FTSrG+%28Capital+Press+%7C%29&utm_content=FaceBook#sthash.qfqHj0Fu.dpuf

[bhawley76]

 

[Curly]

not going to help planted trout but it's a start 


The action will occur at McNary Dam on the Columbia River and Ice Harbor, Lower Monumental, Little Goose and Lower Granite dams on the Snake River.

CLARKSTON, Wash. (AP) — The Army Corps of Engineers this spring will begin killing birds at some Snake and Columbia river dams to help protect juvenile salmon and steelhead.

The agency unveiled a plan Thursday that will allow as many as 1,200 California gulls, 650 ring-billed gulls and 150 double-crested cormorants to be killed.

   Some good news, right there! 

[singleshot12]

   That's a good start

[steeleywhopper]

They can start removing them on the mouth of Steaboat slough if they want to make impact here. Those darn things nest out there by the thousands.

[splitshot]

the eggs need to be oiled or broken.  my experience is that cormorants are hard to kill.  they eat 3 pounds of fish a day.  don't know why they are protected cuz there thousands of them.  mike w