Is john wilson right to cull cormarants?

[excarper]

This weeks angling times was again full of doom and gloom. If its not iced up lakes killing carp its the otters who are killing carp. The latest debate is the cormarants who according to John Wilson are killing 46 million roach a year. He has called for a nationwide cull to resolve the problem. My understanding is that the birds are travelling furher inland then ever before to find small fish to eat. Is it that there are no small fish in the sea for them to catch and eat now due to overfishing or they prefer to dine on freshwater fish. What do you all think?

[gerryf4]

over fishing on small fish in the sea are driving the sea birds inland in search of food. a think we should do something about the problem before they wipe out the freshwater fish.

[fullcreel]

I think that improving sites (if poss) for sea species to breed in, might help, but the C bird is not a natural predator, and are creating holes in the food chain, and should be culled. Too much is invested for them too be allowed to cause such devestation.

[Kirk]

I totally agree with what you all say, we should defo cull the birds because if it carries on then this could really damage the fishing industry and possibly the reproduction of some of our fish.....I think! Please correct me if im wrong.

[rob@home]

I think we are pushing wildlife to the brink & that these birds are just doing what would be natural to them to be able to survive, to cull a species because 'WE' have changed the ecosystem is just putting the problem @ someone elses door for them to deal with @ a later date. I honestly cant say I know what the answer is but I believe we are cutting off our noses to spite our faces here, an ecosystem without wildlife is the way we are going. 1st we rape the seas of fish now we kill the birds?is this honestly the answer?this is like the gold or world debate. Would you rather have lots of nice gold or would we rather have the world with all its ecosystems that sustain our lives?if we have gold we have no world = we all die & if we have the world then everyone wins but our species are incapable of maintaining the level of ourselves so who's wrong here the birds or us?Interesting debate certainly....

[gerryf4]

so you are saying don't cull the birds so instead of cull the birds we let the birds kill the fish all angiler's fish for so ending up there will be nothing to fish for and a don't want to live in a world without fishing and stuff we all can pass down from generation to generation. but some fish that we wouldn't eat the polish eat so they kill pike and no just one alot of junior pike is that right or protecting the freshwater fish like we protect whales and dolphins. and some people that catch fish and a pike takes the fish and they loose the fish so they end up killing all the pike in that water is that right or wrong?

[Fisherwood]

rob@home, while much of what you say I agree with, our lack of good stewardship is the genesis of the problem, I also believe that we cannot protect another species that is overrunning it's own ecological niche and despoiling another.
Just as we have to hunt deer to thin the herds so that they don't overpopulate and starve, because we wiped out their natural predetors (wolves, mountain lions, etc), we should also keep cormorants and other such species in check while working to resolve the imbalances that have caused their becomeing a problem.
IMHO. ;)

[thearchie]

there might be a slight problem,with culling cormarants they are under the protected species act passed in the 70,S .so thats why they are so plentifull today.they have moved inland basically because its easy pickings for them.they will pick of diseased fish off first though just because they are easier to catch.if fisheries are suffering against these attacks like they say they do.they should be granted permission to the culling.its there lively hood at the end of the day.

[barbelblanker]

Unfortunately we have little or no control over the sea fish , this is out of our hands. Cormorant decimation of the inshore fish stocks we can, and should , control. Cull the excess. If the argument is that our intervention has forced them inland then surely our intervention in preserving freshwater ecosystems requires us to cull. Mink are here because of mans stupidity. If we were being over-run with these they would (and do) destroy the eco systems in to which they become a mono-culture killer. If herons, kingfishers and other "native" wildlife become affected by coromorant mono-culture then the case for not culling goes out of the window. Man made the British landscape, it is in no way shape or form in a natural state. Because of this inbalances that force creatures such as cormorants in to areas they do not naturally occupy for any length of time must lead to intervention on our part. It isn't the birds fault, how often is this the case ? Life's not fair. Till man wakes up to the fact that wholesale raping of ecosystems leads to consequences , then this is an unfortunate consequence of our negligence. Not culling cormorants would be another act of negligence unless we just want to accept them as a clear indicator of the state of our seas. With very few exceptions it's only us anglers who have noticed (maybe the RSPB), the politicians don't give a stuff. Wilson is right.

[gerryf4]

a agree with you you make a good point we should do something and if killing cormorants is the answer. then that's the way we should go.