Commorant Harrasment!

[Bassbuster]

I'm glad they're trying something to drive these off BL! Don't know how they don't drive everything else in the process I.e. loons but im sure DEC knows what they're doing.

http://www.watertowndailytimes.com/arti ... /703039848

[Frank 54]

If they are successful in driving them from the lake they will only move too another lake and be a problem there.And eventuality they will return.

[Fishpro]

Great News!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 20th edition of New York Outdoor News has an article concerning that the DEC is considering a plan to train volunteers to harass feeding cormorants on Black Lake. See page 6 for details and further information. May the plan go forward with success. It is long overdue.

[492VS]

Article in Watertown newspaper March 3
http://www.blacklakeny.com/forum/viewto ... f=1&t=1625
“It’s essentially a boat chase, and they can use pyrotechnics that make a loud whistling noise,”

Sign me up, give me a 150HP jet boat I'll chase them down and up on land also. Then I'll bust out my own supply of pyrotechnics.

[Fishpro]

Reading previous remarks on proposed harassment of Cormorants I am amazed at some of the thoughts on this subject. Now just imagine - let the birds eat all the fish and what do we retain? Nothing value of course. We would see the loss of a great sport fishery, loss of business income for all people who rely on the lake for their livelyhood, the ruin of the natural fauna that makes the lake so picturesque and we can go on and on. The old saying - too much of any thing tends to ruin everything over time. So lets hope that these fish eating birds are brought under control for all the good reasons.

[Fishpro]

The idea here is not to just cause them to move elswhere but merely to help save the great fishery of the lake. Just think of the damage these fish eating birds cause. One only has to look at the guano and the destruction that they leave. Not to mention the loss of the fishery. Think twice - a ruined fishery is a definite negative. If it wasn't , why do they try to control the cormorants elsewhere. SAVE OUR LAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Phil]

I heard that those who want to participate in this project will have to take some DEC training.

[johncran]

A comorant hunting season makes more sense. Chasing them off does nothing to reduce the flock. Take the state money spent on niosemakers and pay people $.25 for every bird they bring in.

[Flukeman]

Actually the harassment program works very well. We have been doing it on Oneida Lake for a few years now and you can see a real difference in the numbers. Mind you, we still have some on the lake, but the numbers are much smaller. They got some of the local bass and walleye guys together, and those that participated said the training was painless.

Good Luck!

[Fishpro]

Both previous ideas are worth consideration. If they would only change the law that protects these birds and allow a open season it would be a good step forward. Then by following it up with the current plan for harassment , we can bring forth a more efficient way of protecting our lake fishery. DEC -ARE YOU LISTENING ? SAVE OUR FISHERY!

[492VS]

Osprey hunting

First sequence, he catches half a dozen fish in one strike.

Second sequence, he plunges talons into deep water right to the bottom to grab his prey.

Third sequence, he captures a big old fat fish that looks as if it weighs more than he does! (Notice also how the fish is turned to offer minimum wind resistance)


http://www.youtube.com/embed/nA3LtXnNIt ... r_embedded

[GuidedBassTrips]

That's a cool video of the osprey at work. I see it all winter long here in Florida while my customers are shiner fishing. They like our dead shiners but also like to come crashing down on our live ones under the floats. They can be quite annoying at times but they are an incredible bird to watch. Sometimes a bass will be chasing one of our shiners and the osprey comes down and takes it away from the bass. About a month ago, I had an osprey come down on a live shiner, and it picked the bass up instead of the shiner! The bass was about a 3 pounder and he had it by the head and carted it about 10 feet and dropped it. He's not the king of the sky though. We watch bald eagles take fish away from the osprey all the time. You'll hear them come swooping in like a fighter jet intimidating the osprey until it drops the fish.

The cormorants are the big problem though. There are some states that are killing them. I believe the NYDEC has killed some birds recently as well. The fish agriculture businesses (catfish farms, tropical fish farms, etc) can get permits to kill them too. They are not as protected as some think.

[Fishpro]

Amen to the above post. Cormorants are nothing but fish eating machines and should be controlled in some manner. An open season and harrassment plan would meet this objective. Protect the Fishery!

[fishinmagician]

There is a way to keep the numbers of fish eating birds to a controlable number. In the immortal words of the great alligator hunter from the TV show Swamp People, Troy Landry " Shoot em Elizebeth Shoot em"
...And thats all I have to say .... about that. (fg)

[HawgBone]

Sorry to jump in the conversation so late here, but I had to do some research on these birds after reading this topic a little bit. Some numbers that I have found really startle me, I have read from a few different sources that a Cormorant eats about one pound of fish a day, this number sounds extraordinarily low to me. However for my purposes now I'll work with it, Black Lake is said to see anywhere from 80 to 200 Cormorants in a day. So if you would use an average number of 140 birds in the lake in a day, that's 140 pounds of fish being taken from the lake in a day and over 50,000 pounds of fish in a year. That's 50,000 pounds of bluegill, perch, crappie, bass, and even pike (see link below) being taken from anglers a year. How many kids do you think could have gained just a little bit more interest in the sport of fishing or forged just another memory or two of catching fish in Black Lake had this 50,000 pounds of fish still been in the lake? On another note, these birds mostly focus on the smaller fish species (i.e crappie, bluegill, perch, sunfish) so say that 60% of what these birds are eating is these smaller fish that would be 30,000 pounds of these fish being taken from the lake in a year. How much do you think that 30,000 pounds a year would be missed by predatory fish over a span of a say 5 years? If the problem guarantees at this pace, I think you will see a drastic drop in the quality of fish on this amazing fishery. Black Lake really is my slice of heaven here on earth and wouldn't trade my week in the summer on the lake for anything. With this long rant coming to an end, I believe that more extreme measures need to be taken with these birds. I motion an open season!

Cormorant eats mature pike:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... orant.html

Tight Lines!
-Chris