State and federal natural resources agencies are seeking public comments on a draft environmental assessment (EA) that lays out a plan to manage damage caused by double-crested cormorants in Ohio.
The Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service and its Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s Wildlife Services, and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Wildlife have drafted a plan to reduce damage from double-crested cormorants in five Ohio locations. Wildlife Services is the lead agency for the EA; the Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Division of Wildlife are cooperating agencies.
The draft EA proposes to implement an Integrated Wildlife Damage Management approach to reduce damage associated with double-crested cormorants to property, aquaculture and natural resources, and cormorant-related risks to public health and safety in Ohio, where a need exists, a request is received, and landowners grant permission.
The EA considers five alternatives, including the proposed integrated management approach and a “No Action” alternative, which is required under the National Environmental Policy Act. The other alternatives being considered include a non-lethal control approach, an alternative that limits federal government involvement to providing technical assistance only, and an alternative under which federal agencies would not participate in any cormorant damage management activities.
Under the proposed alternative, when appropriate, physical exclusion, habitat modification or harassment would be used to reduce double-crested cormorant damage. In other situations, cormorants might be removed by shooting, egg oiling or destruction, nest destruction, or euthanasia following live capture.
Double-crested cormorants are large, fish-eating birds that nest in colonies and roost together in large numbers. A reduction in eggshell-thinning pesticides (primarily DDT), increased protection under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and abundant food resources on their breeding and wintering grounds has caused cormorant numbers and distribution to increase greatly in the last 30 years.
Conflicts with human and natural resources, including impacts on commercial aquaculture, private property, recreational fisheries, vegetation and other colonial waterbirds that nest with cormorants, and risks to human health and safety, led to a decision by the cooperating agencies in Ohio to develop a damage management strategy for the species.
In determining the damage management strategy under the proposed alternative in the draft EA, preference would be given to practical and effective non-lethal methods. However, non-lethal methods may not always be applied as a first response to each damage problem. The most appropriate response could be a combination of non-lethal and lethal methods, or there could be instances where the application of lethal methods alone would be the most appropriate strategy.
The draft EA covers damage management measures statewide, as cormorants may cause losses to public resources, aquaculture stock, and private property throughout the state, and pose risks to human health and safety. The current population in North America is estimated at two million birds, nearly 70 percent of which are in the interior population, which includes Ohio.
Ohio is one of several states experiencing damage to property and public resources by double-crested cormorants. The number of cormorants in Ohio has increased exponentially, from no breeding pairs in 1991 to 5,164 pairs in 2005.
Under the proposed alternative in the draft EA, and under several other alternatives being considered, efforts would be made at three Lake Erie islands and two inland locations to reduce or maintain current double-crested cormorant numbers.
In particular the cooperating agencies want to reduce the cormorant population on West Sister because of habitat destruction. Ohio’s only designated wilderness area wilderness area
Wilderness areas are places untamed by humans. The Wilderness Act of 1964 allows Congress to designate wilderness areas for protection to ensure that America's pristine wild lands will not disappear. Wilderness areas can be part of national wildlife refuges, national parks, national forests or public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management.
Learn more about wilderness area , West Sister currently hosts one of the largest remaining nesting colonies of herons and egrets in the U.S. portion of the Great Lakes, as well as one of two remaining breeding colonies of black-crowned night-herons in the state.
In 2003, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued regulations allowing more flexibility in the management of double-crested cormorants where they are causing damage to aquaculture stock and public resources such as fisheries, vegetation and other birds.
The regulations established a Public Resource Depredation Order allowing state wildlife agencies, tribes and Wildlife Services in 24 states, including Ohio, to conduct cormorant damage management for the protection of public resources. Without this depredation order, agencies and individuals would not be able to use lethal methods to manage cormorant damage without a federal permit.
Agencies acting under the order must have landowner permission, may not adversely affect other migratory birds or threatened or endangered species, and must satisfy annual reporting and evaluation requirements. The Fish and Wildlife Service will ensure the long-term sustainability of cormorant populations through oversight of agency activities and regular population monitoring.
Copies of the draft EA on double-crested cormorant damage management may be downloaded from the Fish and Wildlife Service’s Web site at http://www.fws.gov/midwest/MidwestBird/cormorants.htm Hard copies may be obtained by contacting USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services, 6929 American Parkway, Reynoldsburg, OH, 43068, phone: (614) 861-6087, FAX: (614) 861-9018.
Written comments on the EA will be accepted through February 16, 2006. Written comments should be submitted to the above address for USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services. When faxing a comment, a copy should also be mailed to ensure that a complete version of the text is received.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 545 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 63 Fish and Wildlife Management offices and 81 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
