Hard Cormerants

[wearyone]

Pity no one can find a link between cormorants and the bird flue.

The 'problem' would disappear overnight.

[Peter Waller]

Appently, Newt, most of our visiting cormorants are from European inland waters rather than the high sea. I live near the sea and the number of cormorants that we see on our local freshwater is just the same as its always been, very few!

[Ian FG]

Not sure how many cormorant species you folks have but several in the US tend to prefer inland living and have done so for lots longer than any possible shortage of sea fish could have driven them inland. Phalacrocorax auritus (double-crested cormorant) is a prime example. Marine and fresh water populations. http://www.nps.gov/hafo/crittercorner/cormoran.htm

 

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We have two species of Cormorant in the UK: Phalacrocorax carbo (cormorant) and Phalacrocorax aristotelis (shag). Apparently the cormorant is quite happy to venture inland but the shag hardly ever does, so I'm not sure if it's true that cormorants are being driven inland, there may just be more of them than there used to be.

 

I like the idea of no one eating fish for ten years, even better would be only fish caught on a rod and line could be eaten.

[Nugg]

I like the idea of no one eating fish for ten years, even better would be only fish caught on a rod and line could be eaten.

 

Blimey!! Very few would eat fish for more than twenty years in that case.

[kleinboet]

May I ask Zedhead Where he got his information on Comorants and ask him to do a little research?

The RSPB scream that we are "interfering and will wipe out" the freshwater Cormorant. However if you read the fisheries reports on the same bird you will find that Cormorants are decimating fresh water stocks.

We won't have to worry about the anti's, the Cormorant will fill it's belly with ALL of our freshwater fish and then move on, leaving us with nothing to fish for.

[chappers]

I'm sure the bastards tell each other.I used to fish Blenhiem Palace lake nearly every week inthe late 80's early 90's . When I first started fishing there,there was a cormorant roost with 3 birds on it. For some reason there was a couple of years which saw a masssive explosion of small roach and during that period the number of cormorants on that roost rose to 16-20. Even though the proliferation of small roach dissappeared after a couple of years (probably due to the cormorants) The bloody things never left.

I haven't fished there for about 6 or 7 years but was walking in the grounds a coupleof weeks ago and had a look there were at least 10 roosting in the very same tree.

[Guest rabbit]

Kleinboet

I havn't checked but I believe there is no such species as a 'freshwater' cormorant, they are I believe sea birds. Zedhead was right in that we have 'raped' the seas of fish. so little the cormorant can do other than look inland for food. What are you proposing we do shoot them? I'm sure that will endear anglers to a large amount of the non angling public.

[chesters1]

You must have come pretty close to killing a few of them....

thats ok! i recycle the bodies of the martyr fish would become mink bait

[chappers]

cormorants have always been found inland nothing to do with fish in the seas, the populations adjust according to the amount of food available.

What has changed though is that the inland populations have become permenant, whereas traditionally they were the migratory population that came here in the winter.

the resident population used to be the costal population.

 

Might like to add that they do taste horrible too

Edited November 7, 2005 by chappers

[chesters1]

cant blame them ,nice warm pond and when they eat all the fish we chuck more in

the local ones seem to be static ,if their chased from one place they fly to their next ,our ones are either coming from frensham ponds south of the pond or from the river wey north of the pond ,scare it away from here and they go north or south theres nothing local east or west ,if it comes from the north if you scare it when it circles the pond it goes south and vice versa ,one of the heron hates it and flees on sight the other sits up a tree and watches it ,we have 2 distinct herons who just put up with each other on the pond , as long as theres 1 island between them they put up with each other

Edited November 7, 2005 by chesters1