Cormorant Predation - New Article!

[Glenn]

Cormorants are not welcome in most sportfish waters because of the damage they can inflict. You now have a little info on what cormorants eat and when.

 

https://www.bassresource.com/fish_biology/cormorant-predation.html

[gimruis]

About 10 years ago the black cormorants were so numerous on Leech Lake in northern MN that the feds brought in snipers to pick them off.  They were in the midst of trying to resurrect the lake with a massive walleye stocking program and the sheer amount of cormorants present was inhibiting that.  They are nasty birds.

 

Many years ago, they used to be legal to hunt.  My now deceased Grandfather told me a story once when he was waterfowl hunting.  He had a male Chesapeake Bay Retriever that was tougher than nails and would retrieve anything in any conditions.  Well one time he shot a cormorant.  That dog (named Buster) swam out there, picked up the dead cormorant, spit it back out, and swam back.  He said its literally the only bird that Buster ever refused to retrieve.  

[MN Fisher]

18 minutes ago, gimruis said:

About 10 years ago the black cormorants were so numerous on Leech Lake in northern MN that the feds brought in snipers to pick them off. 

15-20 years ago I'd take the runabout out for a day of fishing...then camp on Wawatosa Island, then fish the next day as well.

One time, the cormorants were so thick, just about every tree on the island had several perched in it.

[WRB]

The article posted suggests that Cormorants feed on the most available fish and that may be true but they feed on planted trout as the DFW truck is releasing them.

Small ponds a flock of Cormorants can clean out the entire population of bass under 1 1/2# in a few days.

This fish eating bird is a protected species! Beware pond owners!

Tom 

[GaryH]

So true. Seen it happen on a lake in SE Pa.

 

 

 

 

[Big Rick]

In my neck of the woods we call them water turkeys. They are vicious predators on our catfish ponds. In the 90's we obtained a special "permit", for lack of a better word, to shoot them as long as we were on our ponds. Catfish ponds are a major source of income and are intentionally overstocked for harvest. A cormorant can eat a bunch of catfish in a short timeframe, especially when the water depth is less than 6 ft and the fish are on 6" centers...

 

We despise them. 

[Dwight Hottle]

A classic case of the federal government's mismanagement of an unwanted & unnecessary species. They do more harm than good by killing all foliage where they nest including entire islands on the great lakes. They decimate fish populations. Each bird  consumes an average of a pound of fish per day. They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and can only legally be killed with authorization from the USFWS. 

[looking45]

If you own the pond and the cormorants are eating your fish, you might want to contact your local Fish & Game office and inquire about getting a Federal depredation permit. Unless it has changed, there is a $100 application fee. You don’t get a refund  if you’re denied. There is a lot of paperwork and one of the requirements  is you have tried several non lethal ways to get rid of them.  If you do get a permit, it’s only for a certain amount of time  but can be renewed. 

[Jmilburn76]

Interesting,  I had never heard of them until I accidentally caught one bank fishing with my wife last year. It tore my right arm up pretty good while my wife was getting it unhooked. After we got home I started looking up birds and found their name.

[TnRiver46]

Ours just showed up last week when the loons left. We have enough shad to walk across so they don’t hurt anything. There is also an Osprey nest about every half mile of river and bald eagles and blue herons galore. Not to mention green heron, mergansers, egrets, ring billed gulls, the list goes on and on.
 

My buddy works for the fed and used to get permits to eliminate cormorants at catfish farms down south but the cormorant has some friends in high places somewhere and now his permits only allow one to be taken, kind of a sarcastic joke 

[WRB]

Cormorants Fly underwater using their wings to propel themselves unlike diving birds that use their feet.

Japanese put a ring around their and line tied to the a foot using the bird to catch fish. The ring prevents the Cormorant swallowing the fish last the ring.

Before 1972 we could shoot Cormorants no longer they are protected world wide, have thousands now in California lakes.

I tried to hit them with my boat without success!

Tom

 

 

[Johnbt]

I see them migrating along the Outer Banks of NC every year. Tens of thousands at a time. Don't see many at all in small ponds and lakes around Richmond.

 

 

"Foraging flock of cormorants in near shore waters along the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Foraging flocks are highly concentrated and may exceed 10,000 individuals. Photo by Bryan Watts."

 

"The increase in cormorant numbers over the past four decades has led to concerns about impacts to fish stocks throughout primary breeding and winter areas by the recreational and commercial fishing industries.  Double-crested cormorants are efficient predators capable of exploiting a wide range of fish species.  As breeding populations within the Northeast have reached record highs, coastal North Carolina has emerged as a significant wintering site.  The population appears to be concentrated within the Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds and associated near-shore waters. "

 

 - https://ccbbirds.org/2020/01/23/counting-cormorants/

 

From the same article,

 

 

Just yesterday I stuck my new 12-month Cape Hatteras National Seashore off road vehicle permit on the windshield. It's good for Hatteras Island and Ocracoke Island,

[fin]

20 hours ago, WRB said:

Japanese put a ring around their and line tied to the a foot using the bird to catch fish. The ring prevents the Cormorant swallowing the fish last the ring.

 

 

There's a cool series of photographs out there of fishing with cormorants by a photographer named Dave Long. https://davelongphoto.com/#/southeast-china/

 

23 hours ago, TnRiver46 said:

We have enough shad to walk across so they don’t hurt anything.

 

This is what I tell myself. Cormorants used to really irritate me, then it occurred to me they help control the shad population, which is good for me. I still hate them though. I love most birds, but cormorants are just nasty and obnoxious.

[TnRiver46]

@fin, they sure make a mess out of an island 

[Peddiesake]

Here in southern New Jersey the state stocks our local lake of 10 acres with rainbows. I fish trout from November 22 until April 15 until the bass bite turns on.

In the spring, they will stock several hundred one year olds. 9-12 inch and close the lake for two weeks. By the time they reopen it to fishing, the Cormorants will have eaten 150 trout while we sit idly by. They ought to just let us start fishing instead of providing a Cormorants dining fest. Total ignorance and disregard for the condition. Tax dollars at work … NOT

[TnRiver46]

On 3/8/2024 at 6:47 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Ours just showed up last week when the loons left. We have enough shad to walk across so they don’t hurt anything. There is also an Osprey nest about every half mile of river and bald eagles and blue herons galore. Not to mention green heron, mergansers, egrets, ring billed gulls, the list goes on and on.
 

My buddy works for the fed and used to get permits to eliminate cormorants at catfish farms down south but the cormorant has some friends in high places somewhere and now his permits only allow one to be taken, kind of a sarcastic joke 

I stand corrected, saw a loon today 

[Pat Brown]

The cormorants are abundant on our big lake but usually only see one or maybe two at the ponds.  Ponds have more heron/beaver/snapping turtles/otter than cormorants but still it seems like in general these animals all go for stuff that easily fits in their mouth since there's plenty of that to be had.

[fin]

2 hours ago, Pat Brown said:

The cormorants are abundant on our big lake but usually only see one or maybe two at the ponds.  Ponds have more heron/beaver/snapping turtles/otter than cormorants but still it seems like in general these animals all go for stuff that easily fits in their mouth since there's plenty of that to be had.

 

Yeah, I think only the otter will eat the larger fish. I don't think there's a limit to the size of fish they eat, but the others you mentioned are all limited.

[Pat Brown]

It seems like the otters have found a really abundant supply of freshwater oysters in the pond that I fish and everywhere I see them depositing their debris. It's just oyster shells. I never see fish bones at all! I wonder if given a choice between shellfish and swimming fish they go for shellfish?

[fin]

Yeah, I've seen that a lot. My guess is it's because they are sitting ducks. I see the shells mostly along rip-rap.

 

Some birds love them too. Last year I saw a bird called a Limpkin eating mollusks out of a small pond and leaving the shells in neat little piles along the bank. They're from Florida and aren't even supposed to be in Georgia.

[TnRiver46]

@Pat Brown, I think they eat the bones like a dog. I usually see carp scales and crushed up crawdad shells in the scat 

 

I did see a local YouTube fisherman catch a cormorant underwater with a live skipjack herring, bout a pound 

[Bird]

What I've observed is Loons are just as efficient as cormorants at catching fish,we have both.

Every time I see either, I know I'm gonna get out fished and they don't practice catch and release.

That said, we have a family owned 13 acre lake that was full of Bass and Crappie but during last year's drought, Otters left nothing behind.

[TriStateBassin106]

We have cormorants here in New Jersey and they're extremely annoying when trying to fish bass lakes that get stocked with rainbow trout in the spring. Any lake with stocking gets closed on March 18th and I've already seen a few birds at my spots looking for fish. I've never seen them eat a bass in person but plenty of trout, perch, shad and bullhead catfish. 

 

A friend of mine who works for the state hatcheries says the birds will follow the stocking trucks to their locations. They will fly in a formation about 200 feet in the air while the trucks are on the road. 

 

It's better off if they get the dodo treatment. 

[osummerer23]

On 3/10/2024 at 5:20 PM, Peddiesake said:

Here in southern New Jersey the state stocks our local lake of 10 acres with rainbows. I fish trout from November 22 until April 15 until the bass bite turns on.

In the spring, they will stock several hundred one year olds. 9-12 inch and close the lake for two weeks. By the time they reopen it to fishing, the Cormorants will have eaten 150 trout while we sit idly by. They ought to just let us start fishing instead of providing a Cormorants dining fest. Total ignorance and disregard for the condition. Tax dollars at work … NOT

Im up on the raritan bay. Every single buoy and marker pile has been caked in **** from these things. Stinks like hell and watch them eat tons of baby stripers and small fluke every year. Only place worse I've seen is Carnegie lake in Princeton. Awful bird, allowed to thrive from awful management. 

[TnRiver46]

11 hours ago, osummerer23 said:

Im up on the raritan bay. Every single buoy and marker pile has been caked in **** from these things. Stinks like hell and watch them eat tons of baby stripers and small fluke every year. Only place worse I've seen is Carnegie lake in Princeton. Awful bird, allowed to thrive from awful management. 

I’ve been crapped on by one, I jumped in the water to rinse off. I think my fishing partner is still laughing to this very day and it was like 9 yrs ago