204,500 Double-crested Cormorants to be Slaughtered
Help New Jersey Audubon Society and the American Bird
Conservancy save Double-crested Cormorants from being
senselessly slaughtered. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is
set to issue a permit allowing for the estimated killing of
204,500 of these fish-eating birds. Double-crested Cormorants
are being blamed for the collapse of fisheries. This poor
species is being villanized for a crime it did not commit.
Fisheries are collapsing from overharvest, water pollution and
habitat loss and degradation. Over 70 species of birds feed on
fish. It is a matter of time before pressure mounts for killing
additional species like Royal Tern, Osprey and Great Blue Heron
whose populations we have struggled to restore. Please read the
alert below and write Steve Williams, the Director for the U.S.
Fish & Wildlife Service.
Sincerely,
Eric Stiles, Vice President for Conservation
US FISH & WILDLIFE SERVICE PROPOSAL TO ALLOW SUBSTANTIAL
INCREASE IN DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANT KILLING MOVING FORWARD:
PROPOSED NEW REGULATION TO BE PUBLISHED BY END OF JULY PRIOR TO
FINALIZATION OF EIS.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proceeding with draft
regulations to implement its preferred alternative for
Double-crested Cormorant management nationwide. The draft regs
would result in a marked increase in the killing of Cormorants.
FWS proposes to allow states and other federal agencies to shoot
unlimited numbers of Double-crested Cormorants, without permits.
This would be done under a general Depredation Order. State and
federal agencies also could destroy Cormorant eggs and nest
sites. To shoot Cormorants or destroy eggs and nests, the
agencies would have to find that the Cormorants are "injurious
to public resources" such as fish, plants, or other species.
Currently, state and federal agencies may use non-lethal control
methods but may not shoot cormorants or take their eggs without
permits from the FWS justifying each particular case. In
addition, the FWS proposal would allow the USDA's Wildlife
Services division to kill Cormorants at roost sites in 13 states
covered by the aquaculture depredation order, even if birds from
the roost sites are not depredating fish in an aquaculture
facility. The FWS had denied USDA this authority in 1998.
The DEIS estimates that Cormorant killing would increase to
about 204,500 birds annually. This increased mortality and
population impact does not include any effects from increased
egg addling and oiling and nest destruction. These are only
rough estimates as the FWS proposal has no limits on the
shooting and egg and nest destruction that may take place.
Over 1,500 comments were submitted on the Draft EIS. The regs
would accomplish the preferred alternative in the FWS draft
Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) on Cormorant Management,
even though the FWS final EIS is not finished and won't be until
this winter. Most of you submitted strong objections to this
preferred alternative and the dangerous precedent it establishes
for all fish-eating birds. There are at least 73 bird species
found in freshwater or saltwater habitats of the United States
whose diet consists primarily of fish. As fisheries decline due
to over-fishing, habitat degradation, dams, invasive species,
and pollutants, birds that eat fish are easy targets for
fishermen and some elected officials. The scapegoating of
Double-crested Cormorants for these fishery declines is without
scientific merit; the birds represent an easy public target
rather than dealing with the real causes of decline by
restricting harvest, restoring habitat, restricting harmful
contaminants, eliminating invasives, and breaching or installing
fish passages on dams. Great Blue Herons were cited by fish
farmers in a survey as the number 2 species, after DCCOs,
responsible for taking Channel Catfish in 1996. Is a depredation
order next for the Great Blue Heron? Caspian Terns are being
scapegoated in the Columbia River for salmon declines with
little or no scientific basis and their largest colony in the
world has been moved.
Rather than assess each permit application under the
Migratory Bird Treaty Act for scientific merit and necessity as
is currently done, the FWS Proposed Alternative would abdicate
such responsibility to each state and each federal agency. The
FWS has issued over 400 individual depredation permits to
lethally control Cormorants or take or oil their eggs over the
last 6 years. In addition, aquaculturists in 13 states can and
do shoot Cormorants at and around the ponds, without permits.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: The FWS can reverse its decision to proceed
with the preferred alternative and defer publishing regs until
the EIS is finalized. The same comments that many of you
submitted on the Draft EIS, still apply. You should contact:
Mr. Steve Williams, Director
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Department of the Interior
1849 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20240
202-208-6965 (FAX) and e-mail:
steven_williams@fws.gov
SEE:
www.abcbirds.org/policy/piscivors.htm for ABC's detailed
comments on the Draft EIS.
Gerald W. Winegrad, Vice President for Policy
American Bird Conservancy
1834 Jefferson Place, NW
Washington, DC 20036
VISIT OUR WEB SITE AT
www.abcbirds.org