Cormorant Controversy

The Bay City Times reviews the latest controversy regarding the state of fishing in Lake Huron. This time it's the Cormorant:

Lake Huron's double-crested cormorant, a federally protected bird, hovered near extinction just 30 years ago. Today the goose-sized fish-eater numbers some 2 million in North America. A majority - some 70 percent - congregate around the Great Lakes from April to September for breeding. Federal wildlife managers estimate some 60,000 adult cormorants nest in Michigan.

To environmentalists, the cormorant's wildly successful recovery makes it the poster child for Great Lakes water quality.

But to anglers and growing numbers of resort-town business owners, the cormorant is the center point of a decimating fish population that's tied to many northern livelihoods.

Wherever the truth lies, the cormorant comeback prompted a dramatic federal rule change. Effective in 2004, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service "depredation order" now allows for cormorant population controls - including killing. Research concluded that cormorants were damaging some localized fisheries. Policy-makers reasoned that the bird was destroying vegetation and habitat where other, more fragile, colonial water birds nested.

"They're eating us out of house and home," said Steve Porter, owner of Bunyon Town bait shop in Oscoda. "The consensus among sport fishermen is that the fishery won't recover until they kill the cormorants. Killing them in little batches isn't enough. "It's like exterminating a fraction of the termites in your home. The problem will continue."

What's next for Michigan, armed with new cormorant rules, is to compile the year's new data in Les Cheneaux, Alpena and elsewhere. Then, based on the science, planners need to begin setting priorities on when and where to next exercise control measures.