Wednesday, July 27, 2005
TIME FOR 'SEASON OF THE CORMORANT'
It’s time to do a thinning job on the cormorant population.
These large fish-eating birds – called black geese around the Chesapeake Bay – are as efficient at decimating a fish population as a redneck with a stick of dynamite.
The non-native birds are “reproducing and spreading exponentially,” says Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
What that means is they’re multiplying faster than Mickey’s brooms in “Fantasia.”
Most rivers and lakes in Tennessee and Virginia – not to mention much of the Mid-Atlantic region – are seeing an explosion of the fish eaters. There are hundreds on some lakes. Thousands on others. The huge boulders in the James River at Richmond, Va., have been transformed in color from the voracious birds’ whitewash.
Things can only get worse. Sooner rather than later the fish population will plunge faster than Nasdaq stock during the dot.com crash.
Cormorants are fast fliers and equally fast underwater swimmers. In overwhelming numbers, they cannot help but do a murderous job on smallmouth bass, sunfish, small catfish – everything that swims in our waterways.
Here’s a simple and reasonable solution.
Get the states most affected to declare a season on cormorants.
Cormorants have all the requisites of a game bird. They’re plentiful (an understatement). They’re elusive and fast, thus presenting a challenging target.
But in the overall scheme of things, these non-native, destructive and prolific black geese pose a real threat to the natural balance of the ecosystem.
A hunting period that coincided with Canada goose season would do wonders to “thin the herd,” so to speak. Such a new season would also provide hunters in fall and winter with a genuine opportunity to practice much-needed conservation.
END
These large fish-eating birds – called black geese around the Chesapeake Bay – are as efficient at decimating a fish population as a redneck with a stick of dynamite.
The non-native birds are “reproducing and spreading exponentially,” says Bob Duncan, chief of the wildlife division of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
What that means is they’re multiplying faster than Mickey’s brooms in “Fantasia.”
Most rivers and lakes in Tennessee and Virginia – not to mention much of the Mid-Atlantic region – are seeing an explosion of the fish eaters. There are hundreds on some lakes. Thousands on others. The huge boulders in the James River at Richmond, Va., have been transformed in color from the voracious birds’ whitewash.
Things can only get worse. Sooner rather than later the fish population will plunge faster than Nasdaq stock during the dot.com crash.
Cormorants are fast fliers and equally fast underwater swimmers. In overwhelming numbers, they cannot help but do a murderous job on smallmouth bass, sunfish, small catfish – everything that swims in our waterways.
Here’s a simple and reasonable solution.
Get the states most affected to declare a season on cormorants.
Cormorants have all the requisites of a game bird. They’re plentiful (an understatement). They’re elusive and fast, thus presenting a challenging target.
But in the overall scheme of things, these non-native, destructive and prolific black geese pose a real threat to the natural balance of the ecosystem.
A hunting period that coincided with Canada goose season would do wonders to “thin the herd,” so to speak. Such a new season would also provide hunters in fall and winter with a genuine opportunity to practice much-needed conservation.
END
