killer perch

wulf · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2004 2:31 pm

Yellow perch are by far the most abundant fish species in the BOQ .These voracious little predators kill more walleye fry than any other single species in the bay. The favourite food of the cormorants also happens to be yellow perch.
Why are the cormorants being culled again?

dllm413 · **Posted:** Sat May 15, 2004 5:27 pm

Perch are also a favorite food source for the walleye...what goes around comes around...food chain....Cormorant contribute absolutely nothing!

wulf · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2004 11:33 am

More is not necessarily better my friend.. Take beer for example. Well, that may be a poor example but my point is that nature has produced such an overabundance of cormorants in response to what? A huge surplus of perch which left uneaten will and probably already do rule the ecology in the bay. Sure they are great walleye food but what happens when the food eats the walleye? Each female perch lays from 10 to 40 thousand eggs , each one a potential predator of walleye fry. Now add gobies (also cormorant food) to this scenario and you can see what contribution the evil birds make. The way I see it anyway.

dllm413 · **Posted:** Sun May 16, 2004 5:09 pm

can't disagree with what you have said...guess we all have to remember "dont fool with mother nature".......only time will tell...cormants also have been shown to reduce the smallmouth bass population....check out the damage they have done to the islands they have taken over.....guess only time will tell.

ODG · **Posted:** Thu May 20, 2004 7:18 pm

As always Wulffy...well done. I may disagree, but you present very well to this "net" audience. I hope you are involved in some way in your respective region....you have a lot to offer.
Regards
ODG

wulf · **Posted:** Mon May 24, 2004 12:27 pm

Thanks for your response. Although I am now exiled here on Van. Island,
I grew up/cut my fishing teeth on the Bay of Quinte. Graduated from Moira Sec. and Trent U. in Peterborough with a degree in the natural sciences. I know the bay has it,s problems and have long been a critic of the remedial action plan in that it is like a guard dog who,s not allowed to bite anyone. Government sponsored initiatives such as this are mandated mainly to distribute information to the public and can do little to directly intervene and stop the polluters.
I,m taking advantage of a sudden surge in property values here; selling
my home and moving back to the Quinte area next spring. I will become re-involved in local environmental issues as well as in fishing of course and I can hardly wait.

Don Stokes · **Posted:** Mon May 24, 2004 7:00 pm

Hello Wulffperson
I just got back from working and an OWC conference on Van. Island in Campell R. My time was one that I wil likley not soon forget, with some terrific hospitality, lots of bald eagles, and an introduction to prawning. I actually got to stay at the RHB house in Campell R, making it a very special time indeed.

If you are around Hope ever, perhaps we can have a coffee sometime. I will be on the Island again at the end of the summer and have a lot of ties to BOQ area (I still have a little retreat tucked away there).
PS The fish/oyster farming looked interesting.
Tight Lines
Don Stokes

wulf · **Posted:** Mon May 24, 2004 9:14 pm

By all means Don do give me an e mail when you are next here or whenever. Are,nt those prawns beauties? Some of the little devils are almost a foot long if you stretch them out tail to the other end. We just returned from a 3 day trip to West Coast...many red snapper and cod caught on lures I homemade from re bar! my e mail cathandmolly@shaw.ca. My name really is Wulf.

pgreeso · **Posted:** Wed May 26, 2004 12:03 pm

Wulf,

While I have only been visiting the BOQ for the last 8 years, I have seen the damage that the cormorants have done to my in-law's property in the bay. The mess that they make is a big concern, as far as where I can roam about the property with my 2 year old son. Each year the damage and the mess get worse. While I am not a fan of culling a species and upsetting a natural balance, someting needs to be done, but from where I am, I can't see an equitable solution. Somewhere there has to be a middle ground...

big-o · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2004 10:20 pm

Cormorants :evil:

.

Just to give you a little info on these birds

Quote:

Yes, there is anecdotal evidence that cormorants have been seen on Lake of the Woods since as early as 1798. BUT, the first confirmed nesting in that area was in Minnesota in 1915.

The earliest recorded nesting in Ontario was in 1920. They supposedly moved eastward into Lake Huron in the early 30's, and only hit Lake Ontario in 1938 and Erie in 1939. In 1983 they began nesting in Oneida Lake down in wolfe's neck of the woods. They are now nesting at least as far east as Lake Champlain, where control methods have been instituted.

When I used the phrase "in this part of the world" in a previous post, I was talking about my own little corner of the world- Central and Eastern Ontario. I don't consider Lake of the Woods and points west to be my backyard. Selfish maybe, but if they welcome cormorants out west, that's their business. They are not native to central and eastern Ontario, and I personally consider them an invasive species- no different from zebra mussels and the rest.

Another point- the "smaller numbers" of smallmouth bass that the cormorant population of the eastern basin of Lake Ontario alone takes on an annual basis is a measley 1.3 million! Add to that a measley 15 million or so perch. A drop in the bucket? Hardly.

It's important to get detailed information if you want to be able to make an informed decision on whether you will consider cormorants a threat to our fisheries. When studies state that only 1.5% of the fish consumed by cormorants are smallmouth bass, that doesn't sound too bad at all does it? Now when that 1.5% turns out to be 1.3 million smallies, 14% (182,000) of which are over 12 inches in length , hopefully that will open some eyes. And, by the way, the figures I've quoted, from the U.S. Geological Survey, are the lowest percentages and numbers from the many studies I have read on the subject of cormorant diets.

People will believe what they want to believe. The only reason I've bothered to post this information is so that comments that the cormorants have "always been here", "they only eat baitfish" and so on can be exposed as erroneous.

I promise to stop flogging this dead horse- for now...

CCB

JUST THINK ABOUT THIS... :cry:

BIG-O(Phil)<*!!!><

The Tech · **Posted:** Thu May 27, 2004 10:45 pm

Too bad their diets didn't strictly consist of gobies! That is a rather large

task in riddin them, cormorants, and I think, the gobies are here to stay,

unfortunately.

FISH ON

shawn_303 · **Joined:** Tue Feb 24, 2004 11:57 am **Posts:** 237

About 11 years ago, I did my highschool Co-op at Presquile Prov Park in Brighton. I went out daily to High Bluff and Gull Island to clean up after duck hunters and check out the wildlife such as snowy owls and many, many different ducks. I was at the same two islands last year and there is nothing but cormorant nests in dead trees. It's too late, the islands are now destroyed. Don't tell me these birds have any business in my neck of the woods either. Shoot'em all.

ODG · **Posted:** Fri May 28, 2004 12:19 pm

The gentleman bringing up the arguement against yellow perch is merely expressing an opinion...from a distance. I suspect he or she will reconsider when they have had a chance to observe the damage first hand.

I do agree with the notion about not eradicating them all, if it is a true native species.

ODG

wulf · **Posted:** Sat May 29, 2004 11:22 am

Out here in BC there are people driving around with bumper stickers proclaiming that one should "shoot an owl, save a loggers job" because
the spotted owls presence is hindering the clear cutting of the last few pieces of old growth forest. Sea lions drift up dead on the beach, shot off the rocks by persons beleiving they are eating all the salmon. Wolves and cougars are persecuted because they are eating the deer, bald eagles are shot in large numbers. their body parts and feathers sold as art supplies?!?
Clear cutting has wiped out the Van. Island marmot down to a few dozen
individuals and in a late, politicially driven "effort" to save them, many golden eagles have beem shot. Private fish farm operators shoot seals, otters. herons and anything else that comes near the operation.
The list goes on. My concern is not so much for the cormorants as it is for the{shoot em all} mentality which obviously still exists. Today it,s cormorants, what wiil it be tomorrow? As I.ve said in a previous post,
will we ever get the playing god thing right?

smallmouth · **Posted:** Sun May 30, 2004 8:06 am

OK OK, Listen,
Don't compare apples to oranges. If your concerned about the cull program, you need to understand why such a drastic measure has been taken; and, you can't do that sitting in front of your computer reading about it. What happens in BC, or anywhere else is not the BofQ.
If your ligitimately concerned, come to Brighton and go to Gull Island, a once pristine nesting ground for migratory birds. Drive aroung the BofQ and check out the islands, you could hold Woodstock and not do as much damage; and we haven't begun to talk about their consumption.
I'm just asking you all to walk a mile in our shoes, before making any hasty "politically correct" decisions.
We're always open,

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killer perch

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