GW, if you want cormorants at your pond, more power to you; try it.
I'm not suggesting that anyone try to attract cormorants to their pond.
I disagree that poachers are any different; Bruce's analogy is spot-on. Most poachers take any fish that they catch regardless of size or species, and they have zero respect for the land that they are raping.
ewest's research shows that cormorants eat about a pound of fish per day. I don't believe cormorants can eat fish much larger than a pound. Poachers will usually target the largest fish they can catch, and they will certainly take more than one pound.
Poachers often damage your property besides taking fish, the birds only want some fish.
Cormorants are not something that you can turn on or off at your own fancy.
That's my point Sunil, we can't stop them from preying on our fish, so I'm trying to understand all of the implications. If each bird can eat about a pound of fish then we roughly know what is at stake when 2 dozen of them land on our ponds. I'm not saying to let them do whatever they want to, but the fact remains they MAY BE a good tool to aid in reducing the population in an overcrowded pond.
At any rate, one can't hold up a few isolated incidents or reports against the larger body of knowledge and experience of the damage that cormorants (or poachers) can do to a body of water.
I accept that cormorants can do damage to the balance of fish in ponds, but I maintain that in some cases their predation can improve a fishery. There would be several factors involved including the number of birds, the duration of their stay, the degree of fish overpopulation, etc. It all depends.
Mother Nature certainly can create her own pond management plan for your pond, and if her goal matches your goals, then again, more power to you. She will eventually reach some kind of balance.
Very true Sunil, and your statement gets to the heart of my point. The easiest and most efficient approach will always be the one that harmonizes with the effects of mother nature on our ponds.
Again, I'm not saying that we shouldn't discourage cormorants from our ponds, but at least we can understand the true nature of their influence. I don't believe they can eat our large fish, and we've seen evidence that each bird will only eat about one pound on any given day.
