A triple pincer movement threatens to roll back population gains of double-crested cormorants since they were virtually shot to extinction in the early 1900s and later decimated by DDT. Human fishers regard these aquatic, fish-eating birds as spoilers of their sport and want them removed from the protection of the Migratory Bird Act. Hunters eagerly eye a new target species. Commercial fishers, fish farmers, charter boat captains and fish-stocking state game agencies agree. All complain loudly of cormorant competition. Toma swears that the Cormorants steal the fish that he has caught right off his hook. (He comes back to the dock with no fish many times because of this.)

Cormorants, also known as shags and "snake birds," are a prehistoric species with long, snake-like necks attesting to their reptilian ancestry. They are awkward fliers but skillful swimmers, catching fish in their own element. They can often be seen near water holding out their wings to dry. The Chinese help themselves to their catch by putting rings around their necks, which prevent them from swallowing a fish until the ring is removed. Peruvians harvest their droppings (guano) for organic fertilizer prized by horticulturists. Peterson's Guide lists four American cormorants. Our concern is with the common double-crested cormorant of eastern United States.

According to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS), studies worldwide have shown that cormorants consume "generally less than five percent of the quantity caught by commercial or sport anglers." Most of these are "rough" fish, unwanted by humans. An Arkansas study found "sport-fish" constituted just one percent of cormorant's diet. A Lake Ontario survey put the percentage of trout and salmonids at a mere three-tenths of one percent. Studies in Lakes Erie and Superior found cormorants consumed "only about one percent of the prey-fish biomass needed to support populations of the walleye, a valuable sport-fish."

"Based on a review of the best scientific evidence, it does not appear that a strategy of reducing cormorant populations to benefit sport-fish is biologically warranted," the USFWS report concluded. The National Audubon Society agrees. In a letter dated January 12, 1998, Greg Clouser of Audubon wrote, "There is absolutely no science to back their (sport-fishing groups) claims."

A Cornell University study on Oneida Lake found the cormorant populations had soared from none in 1982 to 250 nesting pairs in 1997. By September, when resident birds and their offspring were joined by migrating birds, an estimated 2,500 cormorants were on the lake. Study participants calculated that residents and migrants combined consumed 40 metric tons of Oneida fish a year, a seemingly vast amount until compared with 207 metric tons consumed by the lake's walleyes. The dietary preference of both species was yellow perch but walleyes ate mostly fry and fingerlings while cormorants dined on the leftovers after they had grown another year. These modern studies confirm an earlier assessment by the Canadian Geological Survey concluding cormorants were not eating young salmon as fishers feared but rather "coarse fish" with little or no value.

Despite extensive evidence that cormorants do not unfavorably impact sport and commercial fishing, Representatives John McHugh (R-NY) and Collin Peterson (D-MN) announced their intention to introduce legislation establishing hunting seasons for double-crested cormorants. New York State Assemblyman Michael Bragman convened a cormorant management meeting in Syracuse on October 16, 1997. The meeting, he reported, "almost uniformly described the devastating ecological, economic and social impacts of cormorant predation on Lake Ontario and Oneida Lake fisheries, local businesses and surrounding communities." Bragman called for a cormorant management plan before the 1998 spring migration, saying that New York fishing-related tourism deserves as much consideration as southern fish farms, which can get permission to shoot cormorants. This is true-but only after scare tactics have become ineffective and only on cormorants preying, or about to prey, upon fish in their ponds. After a few birds have been killed, scare devices regain effectiveness for a time.

The problem of cormorants devouring just-released hatchlings has been met with alternative release strategies such as not releasing hatchery fish in areas frequented by cormorants or releasing them after dark or before the spring migration. The Oswego Chamber of Commerce and charter boat captains have devised a "net pen" to protect hatchlings while they acclimatize. The rate of cormorant population increase is slowing down around the Great Lakes, indicating that it is reaching its natural balance in relation to available food and other species in the ecosystem. Adults who are not successful in commandeering a nesting site either don't breed or move elsewhere.

New colonies can be discouraged by removing nesting materials. Eggs can be rendered infertile by shaking or oiling them, much more effective ways of dealing with local problems than declaring a scattershot hunting season all over the country which will only increase the breeding rate. Ironically, fish farming has contributed to cormorant population recovery by providing a banquet of fin-to-fin fish in shallow ponds. Unlike the perceived losses of the fishers, the farmers' losses are real. Ultimately these farms should be shut down because they cause water pollution and fish is not healthy food for humans. As that will not happen this year or next, it seems best to consider the farmers' needs separately from those who seek to establish a sport hunting season on cormorants.

The ultimate solution, of course, is for humans to stop torturing and eating fish who suffer no less because they lack vocal cords to express their pain. In the meantime, it would help if fishers would read some of the reports on what cormorants actually eat instead of listening to each others' tales of outrageous indignation. It would also help if they could realize that the droppings they complain about help to counteract the sterilizing effect on the water caused by the population explosion of imported zebra mussels. Cormorants' droppings restore fertility to the water by nourishing algae and diatoms that form the base of all aquatic life, very likely enabling more fish to grow to adulthood than they consume.