Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations water turkeys

I am with an outdoor newspaper and am working on a story about cormorants (water turkeys). Any pond owners out there having trouble with these birds?

This predators have recently started showing up here in southern Ontario. Anywhere they get established the sport fishery seems to be very hard hit with catches falling to 10% of normal. They have been congregating in island rookerys where every living tree dies in a few years. Our MNR would like to see them dissappear from the area but PETA and similar groups are fighting to leave them alone.Some official culling has been done in the provincial parks but it is a very political situation. We do hear of additional culling done by the private sector when they can get away with it.

wow, de javu...

It would be great if your Paper responded in old fashioned ways. Get one or two sponsors and offer a bounty on Comorant feet ! In the "old" days, farmers needed help, and the bounty on crows feet was .25 cents a pair !

p.s. yes, we all hate water turkeys, a.k.a. comorants. Kill em' all...would the government let the last T-Rex wander around our neighborhoods eating what it pleases ? Extreme, yes...but don't they occupy a space that a duck or goose could fill (Excerpt from Lusk's book "Raising Trophey Ducks"

David,

Water turkeys are a sensitive subject and I am sure you will get a lot of comments.

Fish in a private pond cost a lot more than most people know and it is easy to jump on the band wagon to protect wildlife. I am all for protecting wildlife but anything that takes a fish from a private pond is costing the pond owner $$$$$.

For example: Assume 40 cents per stocked channel catfish placed in a natural pond. Assume 1 of 3 stocked fish survive to adulthood and weighs 2 pounds to produce 1 lb of cleaned fish, assume it takes 4 pounds of fish food to produce this fish. Using these assumptions, a single pound of cleaned fish costs about $2.16

Water turkeys are just one of the many considerations that increase the cost. Others include poachers, herons, kingfishers, bass, crappie, ospray, etc...

Please address the cost to feed wildlife in any article you write. It is a cost borne by the pond owner.

Regards,