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Location
Saratoga Springs, NY
Start Date
4-5-2009 12:00 AM
Description
Michigan, like other Great Lakes states, experienced a tremendous increase of double-crested cormorants (DCCO) in the 1990s that prompted substantial concern about their impacts on natural resources such as sport fish, nesting birds and vegetation. To address these issues, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the Public Resource Depredation Order (PRDO) in November 2003 that created a new authority for managing DCCO damage. In this overview, we provide a summary of the collective implementation of the new authority by two agencies, i.e., USDA, Wildlife Services (WS) and five Native American governments for the first five years of PRDO in Michigan. DCCO management under PRDO has been implemented primarily to protect fish species important to both sport and commercial fisheries in many locations but can be categorized in three types of circumstances: 1) during spring migration at locations where DCCOs congregate in large numbers for a period of approximately three weeks; 2) at or near nesting colonies during and shortly after nesting; and 3) in the vicinity of fish stocking sites until the fish disperse. While it is too early to draw definitive conclusions, there is evidence that suggests that as a result of management, in some locations DCCO numbers have been reduced and that the corresponding fisheries have improved.
Recommended Citation
Butchko, P. H. & Ebener, M. (2009). An overview of double-crested cormorant management to protect natural resources in Michigan: The first five years (2004-2008). In Boulanger, J. (Ed.), The Thirteenth Wildlife Damage Management Conference (206-215). Saratoga Springs, NY: Thirteenth WDM Conference.
Included in
An Overview of Double-Crested Cormorant Management to Protect Natural Resources in Michigan: The First Five Years (2004-2008)
Saratoga Springs, NY
Michigan, like other Great Lakes states, experienced a tremendous increase of double-crested cormorants (DCCO) in the 1990s that prompted substantial concern about their impacts on natural resources such as sport fish, nesting birds and vegetation. To address these issues, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued the Public Resource Depredation Order (PRDO) in November 2003 that created a new authority for managing DCCO damage. In this overview, we provide a summary of the collective implementation of the new authority by two agencies, i.e., USDA, Wildlife Services (WS) and five Native American governments for the first five years of PRDO in Michigan. DCCO management under PRDO has been implemented primarily to protect fish species important to both sport and commercial fisheries in many locations but can be categorized in three types of circumstances: 1) during spring migration at locations where DCCOs congregate in large numbers for a period of approximately three weeks; 2) at or near nesting colonies during and shortly after nesting; and 3) in the vicinity of fish stocking sites until the fish disperse. While it is too early to draw definitive conclusions, there is evidence that suggests that as a result of management, in some locations DCCO numbers have been reduced and that the corresponding fisheries have improved.