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Cormorants – More Calls to Arms

By Trevor Johnstone 31/10/2012 16:14:00

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The remains of the 30lb carp 'hunted' by a 'team' of cormorants

A cormorant piece in the angling column of the current ‘Northampton Chronicle & Echo' penned by MKAA’s Trevor Johnstone makes for very interesting reading.

Trevor writes in the current Northampton Chronicle & Echo:

“Don’t just sit moaning about fish stock decimation by cormorants and other apex predators – start counting!

That's the call from Northampton Specimen Group chairman Tony Gibson, who has begun ramping up the fight against over-predation.

He's urging anglers to record, photograph if possible, and report every cormorant or otter attack they see to the national Predation Action Group.

That group is focussed on getting cormorants removed from the protected species list, and exposing the down-side of increasing otter numbers to public gaze...the latter an area where, to many on the banks, the Angling Trust can appear afraid to be seen to go.

He said:

"We need hard factual evidence, not rant, of the damage over-predation is causing."

Ready to help? Report incidents at www.thepredationactiongroup.co.uk

Cormorants don't just eat smaller fish.

Mike Green and buddy Ken Heath recently saw a 'team' of three harry a 30lb carp and drive it to the lake's edge where they tore it apart before being driven off. His picture (above) shows it had no hope of survival.

He said:

"They worked as a team. It was a sad and depressing thing to witness, especially as we'd seen this fish grow from about 3lb to 30lb 4oz the last time it was caught.

Why is our lily-livered government procrastinating over returning these ghastly killers to the vermin list where they rightly belong?"”

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Cormorants – More Calls to Arms

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Comments (7 posted):

Jeff Woodhouse on 27/12/2012 22:14:12

I know this is a couple of months old now, but I'd been giving the problem of unwanted pests some thought today. When anyone has visited Marsh Farm stillwater fishery you will have noticed that in between each peg there is a wire stretched between the near and far banks. This keeps off cormorants completely because they need quite a long take off and landing routine. So why can't this same practice be done on smaller rivers to protect the fish stocks within them. Seems quite reasonable to me if we are the only legitimate users of the smaller upland rivers because these are the places that are our fish's breeding grounds and if the cormorants are getting up there they're wiping out our future recruitment. Just a thought. I know the EA are trialling logs in shallower becks and streams now, would this stop the birds?

geoffmaynard on 27/12/2012 22:24:19

Weeeellllll...... How would the canoeists cope with that? :) And on spate rivers it could be a bit difficult working out which height to place them.

Jeff Woodhouse on 27/12/2012 22:27:20

And on spate rivers it could be a bit difficult working out which height to place them. Go on, find fault!!! ;) Just thought - attach them to floating poles like the pontoons. When the river rises, so do the wires. Simples!

on 27/12/2012 22:29:44

Weeeellllll...... How would the canoeists cope with that? :) And on spate rivers it could be a bit difficult working out which height to place them. Floating moorings could supply the answer lol

geoffmaynard on 27/12/2012 22:34:24

Y'know Jeff... You might just have killed two birds with one stone! :))

Lord Paul of Sheffield on 27/12/2012 22:55:13

Just shoot them and if you hit a cormorant when aiming at a canoist t:Dhen good luck

Jeff Woodhouse on 27/12/2012 23:01:00

I even have a drawring!

There you go, length of scaffolding tube with a square plate welded to the top to stop the float comign right off, but tube would be about as high as the river would ever get. Short 2-3ft length of plastic downspout pipe over the top of tube, at the bottom of this would fit a specially made high density polystyrene collar that fits the tubing really tightly (these would have to be made specially, the only component that would.) Then wrap some heavy (not heave) duty wire round it and the one on the opposite bank, not too tight or the float may not go up and down the tube. There's your starter for ten. Improvements please.... They wouldn't have to be everywhere, just where there's no tree cover and NOT in well used swims.