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Sorry this is such a long post.. but its a great article, and i wanted to share it with my fellow pond owners....

chris

Parks and Wildlife gives preliminary approval to control cormorants

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Thursday, May 27, 2004

Texas property owners have long complained about the loss of game fish to increasing populations of double-crested cormorants. The embattled landowners are about to get some relief.

Texas Parks and Wildlife Department commissioners gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a plan that will allow landowners or their designated agents to kill cormorants preying on fish in private lakes. The permit plan will be published in the Texas Register for public comment, then voted on by the full commission in August.

There's no reason to expect that the commission won't follow through and approve the plan. Landowners, or anyone else shooting double-crested cormorants on private lakes, would be responsible for identifying the correct species of cormorant.

The control plan would be in place in time for the fall migration of cormorants into Texas. And that's a good thing, since many landowners and not a few anglers have been quietly shooting double-crested cormorants anyway in order to prevent the birds from damaging fish populations in their lakes. Public lakes and waters would not be covered by the permit.

"Their numbers have increased dramatically in the last 25 years," said John Herron, chief of TPWD's wildlife diversity and nongame programs. "Anglers have always been concerned about (the birds') impact on fish populations." Even some northern states, which had resisted efforts to allow private control of cormorants, have begun to see an impact on fish populations, Herron said, and that has led U.S. Fish and Wildlife to allow states to set up permit programs.

Double-crested cormorants are the most numerous of the long-necked, fish-eating birds in Texas. Not only do they migrate into Texas in the winter, but there are nesting populations here as well, Herron said.

There are an estimated 2 million cormorants in the United States today, Herron said. After suffering reproductive problems related to extensive use of DDT, the birds were given protected status as a migratory bird in 1972. Their numbers have increased an average of 7.9 percent per year since 1975, and now they have elevated themselves to nuisance status.

Fish are their number one food. They will eat any species, but tend to concentrate their feeding efforts on smaller, schooling types of fish, such as shad. However, cormorants have been shown to be a real problem for owners of fish farms and other aquaculture operations when they move into an area in large numbers.

The Texas Parks and Wildlife proposal will allow landowners or their lessees or designated agents to control cormorants. Permits would be issued for a specific site and would cost $12 annually. All shooters would be required to have landowner permission in addition to a copy of the state permit.

The permit holder would be allowed to authorize others to shoot cormorants by giving them a copy of the permit and keeping records of the number of birds taken. Nontoxic shot would be required if shooters were using shotguns, and calls and decoys will be allowed as well.