Sea Birds inland...

I think that we are all aware of the problem we have with sea birds coming inland to feed on the fish in our lakes and rivers. This is really hitting some places hard and something must be done... What do you, the person on the bank think should be done?

I presume you mean cormorants;the first thing that needs to be done is get Defra to accept the extent of the problem,you then have to put right the reason the birds come inland to feed,I'm sure it's not just a matter of exploiting a different food source.Their natural food source is disappearing .In the meantime shoot the blighters.

Cormorants have all but decimated some waters up here (E Anglia...).

Believe it or not we also get seals in some of the rivers in the winter.

I think this problem is only ever going to get worse... Cormorants eat a lot of fish in a day (don't know satistics) and their numbers seem to be ever increasing. They will only move on when their food source drys up... Like it has in their natural coastal environment. Does that mean no more fishing?!

This is a real worrying problem and I fear for the future of the sport over the next ten years.

The fact is there just ain't as many little fish about as there was, which is why the bigger fish are getting bigger. In ten years or so I think that most lakes and rivers will be fishless. Something needs to happen, either the angling bodies tackle the problem or some sort of amazing natual recovery.

Personally I think the birds need to be got rid of. They are a parasite on our enviroment. They are not just damaging fish stocks but trees and other bird life too. Would anyone miss a few hundred thousand cormorants, RSPB probably would but if they were rats or some animal like that, then I'm sure they'd be traps laid down all over the place.

Cheesepaste, it's a bit off the subject but there are millions of rats in this country, there is probably one less than 20 yds. from you right now!
I do however appreciate what you mean. I think you'll find the cormorants never actually strip a water completely,there does come a point where it is not viable for them to stay.

Im lead to belive that the introduction of a non native species will have a destructive efect on an environment,Having studied wild life habitats and fisheries management,that is one of the first and basic things we were taught.
I am fully aware that wild creatures have a need to survive,but also that the species of cormarant plagueing our freshwater fisheries was by common misstake put on the endangured species list.
As a conservationist angler and supporter of the RSPB i feel the situation has been well studied and looked into as the millions of ??? show,qand that political correctness has got in the way.
Just look at the argument for the releas of otter, wolf, boar and Bear into the environment.
Also Ive countted upto40 cormorants on a 3 acre lake alone.Needless to say what the outcome of the fishing has been and the effect of the wildlife down the food chain.

I find it a bit strange that it's only cormorants getting this bad press - after all, we've had terns on our rivers, and gulls everywhere, for as long as I can remember, neither of which are naturally freshwater species... is it because cormorants eat bigger fish? I mean, I've noticed that terns in particular are very adept at catching small fish, denying them the opportunity to GET bigger, but they never get mentioned...
I'm afraid I have to side with the cormorants (etc) here - don't get me wrong, I don't LIKE seeing them on my local waters, but given the choice, they'd rather be back on the coast; the reason they came inland in the first place is because we've decimated their feeding grounds, literally starving them inland... Maybe if we were to clamp down on the massive over-fishing of our seafish, these birds would return to their natural habitats. It's all too easy to blame the cormorants - the real problem lies a lot closer to home...

Predators flourish when prey is plentiful.
Cormorants found new prey and continued to flourish inland.If things were so bad for the cormorant they would be in decline!
Anyone know the cormorants' natural predator?

I would suggest a restocking progeam of some sort of cod and haddock as well as a sea fishing lisecene to pay for it! I is our fault (mainly the spanish!) that they are coming inland because of these shoals of cod being trolled and wided out! There are some things being done at the moment (not directly) such as the reduction of catch sizes. These need enforcing though! The royal navy are doing a great job in reducing the amount of 'illegal' fishing such as the spanish! We need to start a breeding program where these fish are repreduced and put back into the sea to expand the ever reducing stocks. They would probably need to restock the sea with something like 500 000 cod. But if this was to be done it would take time however it would also help entice the cormerants and sea gulls back to the sea! The other positive aspect of this would be that these fish which would be introduced would obviously repreduce as expand. There should also be a cull of cormerants as the inland mammals and birds and fish are starting to take the toll of it all!!

The cormerant problem will be sorted as soon as the RSPB realise that other birds that rely on small fish like the kingfisher are dying out because they cant find food easily after the cormerants leave lakes and rivers empty.