| Protected
bird species killed on island
Cormorants hurting
predator and prey stocks
Wildlife
officials visiting Little Galloo Island in Lake Ontario earlier this month
discovered more than 800 double crested cormorants, a federally protected
species, had been slaughtered by shotgun fire. Although they have no suspects,
officials say a festering conflict in conservation is responsible for what
they are calling one of the worst mass killings of a federally protected
bird species in recent decades.
NYSDEC
biologists said when they went ashore on the privately owned and uninhabited
Little Galloo Island west of Watertown, NY, they encountered carcasses
of cormorants and piles of shotgun shells.
The
mass shooting appeared to be the latest of several recent instances of
a once-rare species recovering to the point
that it comes into conflict with angling and aquaculture interests nationwide.
On
July 23, the town of Carrollton, TX, without a federal permit, bulldozed
a rookery filled with nesting little blue herons,
snowy egrets and other species protect by federal law. The count of dead
birds from that incident could be more than 1,000, said Pamela McCroskery,
a spokesman for the Texas Audubon Society.
Around
eastern Lake Ontario and across the country, fish-eating cormorants have
staged a dramatic recovery since the 1950s.
In
Henderson, NY, and other fishing towns, charter boat captains and other
fishing-related businesses, joined by some
officials, have been pressing the government for several years to allow
legalized hunting of cormorants, which they claim are responsible for a
drop in populations of smallmouth bass and other popular gamefish and baitfish.
With
the decline in the sportfishing industry being blamed on the birds, and
lack of any action plan by state or federal authorities to control burgeoning
cormorant populations, there has been more and more talk along the shore
lately of taking action. |
The
long-necked diving birds have been protected for 25 years under the federal
Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits
the killing of ducks, geese, egrets, cormorants and other migrating birds
without a permit. Ironically, when the Act was passed there was no desire
to hunt cormorants so they were placed on the protected list and no recreational
permits have ever been issued, unlike ducks and geese.
Since
this dramatic recovery began, the double crested cormorant population has
exploded creating problems for fish farmers and anglers alike. Population
growth in the Great Lakes has been most dramatic, and as the colony on
Little Galloo Island grew to upward of 8,000 active nests in recent years,
it was increasingly perceived as a threat to the local sport fishing industry.
Each nest is estimated to have upwards of four birds, with each adult eating
about 2 lbs. of fish per day.
Although
the fish farmers or acquaculturalists sought and found relief at the federal
level and have been able to thin out cormorant populations affecting their
operations, the angling community has been increasingly frustrated by a
lack of any cohesive program by USFWS and state resource agencies to protect
game and bait fish species from the impacts of growing cormorant populations.
Killing
a bird protected by the Migratory Bird Act can bring a maximum penalty
of a $5,000 fine and 6 months in prison for each count, said Adam O'Hara,
the special agent in charge of law enforcement for the Fish and Wildlife
Service in the Northeast.
Two
recent news releases by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service are offering
an unspecified amount of money for information
leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons who committed
this act. However, the negative
rhetoric and name calling in the press releases by FWS Deputy Regional
Director Cathleen Short may prove
to be counterproductive to their desired results.
See
also editorial on the incident/USFWS at http://www.great-lakes.org/message.html
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