Romanik is proud of what he did. In 2004, there were almost 1,800 double-crested cormorant nests on Goose Island, a strip of land in northern Lake Huron about 500 feet wide and less than a mile long. A large colony could turn a forested area into open sandy place with no cover for a hare. In late 1999, we started our first message board. The view was so widepread that ethal control of the birds to protect wild fish was authorized by the U.S. government for many years ‒ though not through raccoon militias. The dramatic rise was seen as an invasion ‒ even though the bird’s native range includes the Great Lakes ‒ and a threat to popular sport fish like perch and bass. A local hunter and fisherman is defending a controversial cormorant hunt, arguing that the colony population is exploding and damaging fish and trees. “I did it to preserve the island,” he says. A double-crested cormorant surfaces after catching dinner. An Ontario-wide cull began on Sept. 15, lasting until Dec. 31, 2020, allowing hunters to kill 15 birds a day. … Some wanted to establish hunting seasons—even though nobody eats cormorants. He says the DNR is seeking to re-negotiate an agreement with the U.S. It is one of six species of cormorants in North America and one of 38 species worldwide. Fifty years ago, the songbird was nearly extinct. "The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is committed to the conservation, protection, ... Cormorant populations in the Great Lakes have increased from very few nests in 1977 to an estimated 30,000 nests in 2001 (Wires et al. But anglers and some congressmen say there are still too many and they eat too many fish. He believes “the cormorants are doing us a favour” because the invasive round goby is the birds’ main food source. “I’m fond of saying that all a colonial waterbird had to do was fly out over the lake and open its bill and fall in and it’d have a fish,” says Ludwig, an American scientist who lives in Canada and works independently. Amidst concern about animal species on the verge of extinction, we wanted to look at some success stories: species that were highly endangered, but whose populations are now making a comeback in Michigan. The view that double-crested cormorants are an invader that threaten the natural integrity of the ecosystem is a common sentiment in upper Michigan. But the amount of fish in Lake Michigan has been in steep decline now for 20 years and is at record low levels. More than 11,500 cormorant nests were counted here in 2007. Double-crested cormorants nest on Green Island near the Mackinac Bridge, one of the few places where they come into contact with many people. Fish and Wildlife Service to restore the use of lethal force against cormorants. U.S. Is that ethical? He pulled out a drone and sent it buzzing over a colony of cormorants nesting in a swath of dead trees along the beach. “Cormorants caused unmeasurable stress,” she says. “The only long-term solution is continued control.”. Anglers and congressmen are now renewing calls for lethal force. “It was totally silent,” she recalls. Goose Island, about 10 miles northeast of Mackinac Island, had been a popular place for colonial waterbirds to nest in the Great Lakes, and not just cormorants. This article also appeared in Bridge Magazine with the help of David Zeman. Are cormorants social? So Romanik released more than 30 racoons on the island over two years, after keeping them on a strict diet of chicken eggs. Cormorant hunting season will be open from Sept. 15 to Dec. 31. Some colonies of Cormorants have been observed herding fish for more efficient hunting. The control reduced the number of nesting cormorants in the upper Great Lakes by about two-thirds. In 2003, U.S. But some ornithologists say they see no danger of cormorants becoming super abundant in the upper Great Lakes again. Even James Audubon had a mixed reaction to cormorants. Michigan Sportsman - Online Michigan Hunting and Fishing Resource. “This used to be just one row along the shoreline” he says. Each bird eats 1.3 to 1.6 pounds of fish daily. Popular NHL sized skating rink returning to Webers this winter, Simcoe resident among 11 COVID-19 cases linked to soccer players at Vaughan sportsplex, Council OKs $20,000 to help attract newcomers to Orillia, Get $200 in free ad credits and an OrilliaMatters Business Listing, Ship Island in Lake Couchiching has been laid to waste to by cormorants. Because Ludwig he has no affiliation with a university or agency, he says he is free to criticize government policy and was in fact a plaintiff in the lawsuit that stopped cormorant control in 2016. (Though in Asia they are trained to catch fish for their owners.). “It’s an unnatural situation with all these birds here,” says Powers. Now he’s worried their work is being undone. In June, a congressional hearing was held in Alpena to address the “mismanagement” of cormorants. They can chase fish in 100 feet of water. Some species of cormorants can attain speeds of up to 55 km per hour. Michigan would join 15 other states that currently allow sandhill crane hunting. Francie Cuthbert, an ornithologist from the University of Minnesota who visited the island then, says it was like a ghost town. “Now it’s like five or six rows.”. Arkansas Rep. Bruce Westerman said federal judges and agencies need to listen to the locals. He says what happened in the 1980s and 90s was unusual because the lakes were full of little fish like alewives and smelt, but very few predator fish were around to eat them. Forums > Michigan Hunting > General Michigan Hunting > Cormorants Discussion in ' General Michigan Hunting ' started by Chad Fortier , Oct 16, 2020 . Surveys done a century ago found few of these birds in Lake Michigan and they were never known to nest in this area. A federal judge temporarily shut down the control program in 2016, saying Fish and Wildlife had failed to submit an assessment showing depredation remained necessary. “The people who deal with a problem daily usually know what works and what does not work.” he said. There are renewed calls to kill cormorants in the Great Lakes. The population in the Great Lakes went from a few thousand birds in the 1970s to a peak of 115,000 nesting pairs around 2000. Cormorants nesting on St. Martin Shoal along with herring gulls. The province’s decision to allow the hunting of double-crested cormorants is getting some mixed reviews locally. Right now, it’s illegal in the state of Michigan to hunt the sandhill crane, the state’s largest and oldest bird. Double-crested cormorants were decimated nationally in the 20th century by the use of toxic pesticides like DDT. The lawmakers holding the hearing were candid about their purpose: restore the use of lethal control against cormorants. The ministry stated, “If hunters choose to not use the birds they harvest, they must dispose of the birds by either: More information about the hunting of cormorants can be found here. Jim Ludwig offered to speak but no public comment was allowed. Credit CREDIT MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES.
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