At a recent Countryside Alliance angling conference, one key message emerged from the assembled angling representatives: cormorants are destroying our
fisheries.50,000 cormorants are now wintering in the UK and are doing untold damage by predating our native small, silver fish stocks.
This "Black Plague" can also carry the ligula tape-worm from fish population to fish population, a problem recently highlighted in the House of Lords by Lord Mason of Barnsley. This is not just about angling, but also about our river and lake environments that support a huge diversity of wildlife from water boat-men to kingfishers. I echo Lord Mason's call for a realistic cormorant management programme before the situation becomes uncontrollable.
The Campaign for Angling will be working towards a consensus with both Government and the RSPB to agree the need for realistic measures to ensure that this European interloper does not continue to rape our water of vital
fish stocks and, with it, the vital bio-diversity that enables indigenous species, from fish stocks to Kingfishers, to thrive. We must take responsibility for seeking a solution to this problem and I urge all anglers to support Lord Mason's call for a realistic look by government at the serious impact these birds are having.

Here's the address for that:
Charles Jardine
Director
Countryside Alliance
Campaign for Angling
367 Kennington Road
London
SE11 4PT

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A few factual corrections.

There are not 50,000 over-wintering cormorants in the UK. The most recent counts show a maximum of somewhat more than 20,000, varying between about 18,000 and 25,000.

Cormorants are native to the UK and mainland Europe.

Ligula intestinalis is a very common tapeworm which uses a fish as its penultimate host. The final host is a fish-eating bird, the most common of which are seagulls. the tapeworm found in fish in virtually every large water body, and has been for many decades. It makes fish somewhat fatter than normal and can, if severe, make male fish sterile, but it doesn't kill fish.

The Campaign for Angling will not be working for a consensus between Government & the RSPB. That dialogue -involving a much wider group - is already the sole subject of action by the 'Birds Group' of the Moran Committee.

For more info., see:

www.cormorants.info

There is a legal route to solving problems via the licensing (to shoot) system. Having spent 15 years on this, I promise you: Government will not act on calls for action unless it is being swamped with licence applications.

[ 12. February 2004, 12:23 AM: Message edited by: Bruno Broughton ]

quote:

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Originally posted by Bruno Broughton:
The most recent counts show a maximum of somewhat more than 20,000, varying between about 18,000 and 25,000.

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And you don't have to have Einstein's mathematical ability to calculate how many kg of fish they eat in a year.

quote:

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Originally posted by Bruno Broughton:
There is a legal route to solving problems via the licensing (to shoot) system. Having spent 15 years on this, I promise you: Government will not act on calls for action unless it is being swamped with licence applications.

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Absolutely correct!



So the moral of this topic is "Stop moaning & grizzling, and get yourself a permit, and shoot the peckers!"

DG

[ 12. February 2004, 10:39 AM: Message edited by: The Diamond Geezer ]

If people are serious about solving cormorent issue, then ban the stocking of rainbow trout into reservoirs. This just creates enviroments with unrealistically large fish populations that atract large numbers of fish eating birds, which then damage nearby, natural environments.

As everyone keeps saying about pike culs, the number of predators is determined by the abundance of prey.

If people are serious about solving cormorent issue, then ban the stocking of rainbow trout into reservoirs. This just creates enviroments with unrealistically large fish populations that atract large numbers of fish eating birds, which then damage nearby, natural environments.

As everyone keeps saying about pike culs, the number of predators is determined by the abundance of prey.

[ 12. February 2004, 05:20 PM: Message edited by: StuMac ]

A friend of mine has a permit to shoot cormorants.
No more than 5 a year and no more than 2 in any month!

He opened one up. It was heaving with worms. That's why they have to eat so much, some say.

[ 12. February 2004, 05:53 PM: Message edited by: Jim Roper ]

I had heard that the new minister at DEFRA was looking into the red tape needed to control these destructive elements . . . via the permit request system, maybe someone with a positive view is in there now

aparantly the new requests have had the boxes that says enter you country gentry title here (Earl, Barron, Lord) removed

I'm not so sure that the CA are the people to involve in this one Nathan. Let them look after their own corner. We are able to fight our own battles. We do have our own spokespeople, some of whome are more than able.

I'm not so sure that cormorant management is the total answer. As has already been suggested perhaps we should also be looking at fisheries and waterways management.

I found it on the net and thought maybe other people would like to read it. that's all.

i'd rather the CA kept their noses out of fishing full stop, they do tend to wind people up and associating with those who hunt with hounds (i'm not saying theres anything wrong with it, done it myself a couple of times) can only tar our image in the eyes of the non fishing public