cormorant observations

[chesters1]

in my duties today to find mad fisherman and look at their permits ,i chanced to spot an aproaching corm ,i crouched down to avoid eye contact ,our pond has loads of white tapes stretched across it to "keep them away" turning a nice pond into an eyesore ,anyway mr bird ignored them and landed in the water caught a fish and took of again into a nearby tree ,as he landed again (ignoring the tapes) i stood up and of he went into the distance , these tapes dont seem to work , a chance bird flying overhead MAY be persuaded not to land ,but from watching its obvious that they soon learn , if they are stretched across to prevent corms "gliding" in then anyone with a bit of grey matter would realise that if they can land on a post in a harbour then they can land anywhere :confused:

my obsevations were recorded but will probably be ignored and the tapes will remain

i am sure a monofilament net stretched across under water would have a better effect (no grebes) if the holes are 12" square the fish will pass through unharmed (no carp or pike)

 

[ 15. December 2002, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Paul_D]

I've recently been toying with the idea of buying one of those Black Widow catapult type things and some ball bearings as I tend to come across lots of Gooseander and Mink plundering the fish unhindered. I probably wouldn't ever hit one but I was wandering what the deterent value would be. We don't seem to get many Cormarants around these parts thankfully, however, interestingly I did come across a festering carcass of one on the river bank earlier this year. I couldn't establish the cause of death but hopefully it's companions witnessed it........

[chesters1]

a catapult wont deter as they wouldnt know the outcome of being hit ,shotguns (well the noise from them ) will deter for a while ,but they are reacting to the noise they havent a clue what makes it ,as for the corpse it will have no effect ,anyone working with an old time gamekeeper will have noticed fences covered in corpses as "warnings" if they took notice he`d be out of a job

even the noisy "man in a boat" (it inflates suddenly with a load noise) isnt infallible

i have doupts concerning evolution (learning and reacting) are humans the only things to evolve ????

take wilderbeast for instance ,over millions of years they have been hunted by meat eaters ,the fossil remains and later cave paintings show they have more or less stayed unchanged ,why didnt they evolve? i`m sure they have never thought "hey here comes that lion again ,he got fred last week ,what if i picked this stick up and hit him with it" animals rarely change so pointing a catapult or shotgun at them will have no effect other than ending their life any "friends " witnessing its devise will remain just as stupid

 

[ 08. December 2002, 05:26 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[robfoss]

When I was in Florida two years ago, I fished from Clearwater Pier 60. There were soooooo many fish, it was fantastic. I caught all sorts, up to about 25lb...with lots of 1 - 5lb fish. Looking into the water, I could see vast baitfish shoals. All the locals wanted to talk to me about, were the black plague moving inland and wiping out the freshwater bass and trout. It seems to be thought that cormorants are moving inland because of fish stock decimation in our seas...well there were plenty of fish in the sea in Florida and they had still moved inland. I don't know lessons to draw from this, other than to say that al those bleeding hearts who say they are only inland because we have driven them from the sea are well wrong.

[Bradford Angler]

All the locals wanted to talk to me about, were the black plague moving inland and wiping out the freshwater bass and trout

 

should anyone be sitting on the fence regarding the problem caused by Cormorants . . I will gladly take you to one of several water decimated by the black death in Yorkshire 40,000 pounds worth of stock has been depleted over the last 5 years from one lake alone . .

 

Infact to make sure it is not a "bad day" or "one off caused by atmospheric pressire" you could book a week off work and blow a 5 days holiday sitting by a lake with out a bite . .

 

In my mind cormorants cause more trouble than any "thinning out of stock" benefits they can deliver. PERIOD !

 

:mad:

 

s'pose the question is why do people go abroad to fish, is it cos all ours have been eaten

[chesters1]

its not only the fish ,the resident heron is rarely seen prefering to raid the neighbours pond , he? was quite tame for a heron and only usually flew when you were within a swim of it ,the resident pair of ducks headed for the hills on the corms approach and they hadnt even finished the bread i was feeding them ,i expect they will be back in the morning so dont cry dear readers their bread is already in my pocket

as farnham is well away from the sea i expect they are going from pond to pond away from the coast,if no-one is allowed to stop them then they will grow bolder that little angling gnome could oneday be out of a job

i expect the reason besides no opposition is that its a darn sight easier to catch fish in a pond than the sea ,when it gets a bit difficult to catch them lo and behold the angling club sticks the next course in ,heaven for fish eaters

 

[ 08. December 2002, 08:15 PM: Message edited by: chesters1 ]

[Jim Roper]

I've often wondered about one of those revolving signs, that you see outside filling stations, with a person's figure painted on it for deterring cormorants.

Cormorants are the best bait for lobsters. You only need check your pots on alternate days!!

 

Jim Roper

[Bradford Angler]

Cormorant breakthrough?

Thursday 21st November 2002

ANGLING will have strong representation with Government as the great cormorant debate enters a critical new stage.

 

At an Angling Summit in Whitehall last week, leading lights from the Joint Angling Governing Bodies - which represents coarse, sea and game angling interests – were told that they would be playing a central role in a new round of top level talks on the issue of fish predation by the birds.

 

In announcing the talks, which will also include the RSPB and English Nature, Rural Affairs Minister Alun Michael admitted that the time for shouting was over. He said he was aware of the frustration of the nation’s anglers.

 

The summit was marked by the handing over of a petition containing the signatures of 40,000 anglers, all of them calling for drastic and immediate action to stop cormorants destroying our natural inland fisheries.

 

 

hope yet eh ?

[chesters1]

i`m polishing my purdey at the very thought

[Bruno Broughton]

chesters1:

i`m polishing my purdey at the very thought