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Cormorant Petition

J

Jeff Edisbury

Senior Member
Hi all,

I've recieved a reply from my local MP Caroline Lucas, Green Party member for Brighton in reply to the Angling Trust petition.

Whilst I'm grateful for the time she has taken to reply, I'm somewhat concerned by some of the comments made:

"To make any difference to the cormorant population, it is estimated that 30,000-60,000 cormorants would have to be killed throughout Europe"

"In light of the evidence I have found, which includes information on the Angling Trust website, I am not persuaded that adding cormorants to the General license uis a sensible move. However, I do understand the concerns of anglers who are worried about the depletion of freshwater fish stocks and i support the use of non-lethal measures to control cormorants and other measures to ensure our lakes, rivers and canals are healthier for the benefit of fish, birds and people including tackling pollution and water abstraction".

Sadly, she fails to suggest what these "non-lethal" measures may consist of?

I will be sending the full letter to the Angling Trust.

Regards,

Jeff
 
All non lethal methods of control do is move the problem on to somewhere else, to make a real difference the root of the problem needs to be tackled, this would involve looking at ways of reversing the collapsing food chains at sea......I can't see that happening any time soon.
 
Expecting a Green to sanction the slaughter of a few thousand birds is surely like expecting a turkey to vote for Christmas, isn't it :D
 
Yes Graham!

I did vote green last time, I do think she's a good MP.

They just don't see it as we do and think that it's just a whingeing old dangler who can't catch fish!

It's not just what these birds eat but the damage they do. Me and a friend caught several barbel around the 7-8lb mark at the lower end of the Royalty a few years ago with huge fresh gaping wounds caused by these birds. I have not seen any of these fish caught since. I have failed to catch any fish in this area this year despite numerous attempts and can only assume they have been wiped out.

Regards,

Jeff
 
ok just a thought but how about shooting them in the wings ? that would slow them down

Not really surprised look whats happened with the badger cull !!!!!!!! if its got feathers or fur then its cute and should be left alone ,as I quote my sister in law who I only see twice a year " only slimy fish !!!!!!!! " these people are stupid they go out photographing grebes , kingfishers and other water wildlife and they are too thick to see what will happen if the cormorants and otters go unchecked , all will they get to photograph is plants !!!!!!!!!!!!! even tried to explain it and she wont accept it , my other half can see it so why cant her sister and her bloke , makes my blood boil , waiting for the otters to run out of food and get like foxes and wait til one of them bites a kid
 
I rather use non lethal methods on some of the replies !!!!!! like that fact that her column is seen as the views of a single , solitary sixty something , well she is something and no wonder she is single . apparently they may not be comorants but shags , mmmmmmmmmmmmm are they protected ? shot in error of identification ?
 
kill em all!

autumnwatch last night showed commorants feeding in scotland ,and what was said was oh there one of my favorite birds,but anglers dont think so ,and then started giggling.no petetitions or letters to mp s will do a thing all we are is anglers and those that dont fish just dont get it and thats a problem that wont change!
 
Robert Beal said:
I rather use non lethal methods on some of the replies !!!!!! like that fact that her column is seen as the views of a single , solitary sixty something , well she is something and no wonder she is single . apparently they may not be comorants but shags , mmmmmmmmmmmmm are they protected ? shot in error of identification ?
Click to expand...

Robert, would you "cormorant" her?

I wouldn't "cormorant" her with yours!!! :D;)
 
Well, well, how strange. I have just returned from visiting my M.P. , Nicky Morgan, on the problem of cormorant predation. She listened asked questions and was convinced that there is a real issue. She will take up the problem with Richard Benyon Minister at Defra. We dealt in facts not emotion

The approach was rational, we are very fond of the kingfisher, grebe, heron - all fish eating birds. They have no impact whatsoever. But as we all appreciate the cormorant is a completely different case with 1lb of fish taken a day, not including the weight of maimed fish. As a comparison, if we sat down to a plate of fish & chips, our piece of fish would be no more that 8oz. We are all aware of the consequences of over-fishing hence the moratorium on the North Sea to allow cod and haddock stocks to recover. There's no point in reasoning with a cormorant, they'll leave when the water has been completely pillaged.

I put together a fact sheet for my M.P. If anyone thinks that it would be helpful in their argument, then I'd be happy to E:mail it.

The problem is that a lot of ignoramusses who like these "beautiful birds", have no experience "close up". The Guardian correspondent and Michaela Autumnwatch) are in a World of ignorant bliss. No doubt they enjoy watching grey squirrels raiding songbirds' nests. Same logic. But maybe the scales have dropped, just a little bit, from these naive fools' eyes with the impact of mushrooming grey numbers. Let's hope that the cormorant issue is addressed before that becomes too late.
 
A picture is worth a thousand words.

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Here's Martin Bowler's comments from FaceBook.

Just been sent this picture along with an incredible story by friend Mike Green. He and a mate witnessed this 30lb carp being killed by three cormorants after repeatedly diving on it. So much for them only eating small fish!

This is another picture of the carp. I state again Mike Green an experienced angler said he watched 3 cormorants do it.



Here's a Thames barbel, that has clearly been attacked. I saw a cormorant fly upstream in the area and a little later downstream the short time I was there in the daylight.

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417353_208484262616315_1645245350_n.jpg


Stephen
 
That's disgusting, please read my post above. We really have to do something. If you do contact your MP, this is the sort of evidence that you need to show, together with the captions. I would not have recognised the top photo as cormorant damage.
 
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I am fully behind the Cormorant campaign but would not believe either were cormorant damage. The carp has clearly not been eaten for a start, looks more like rat damage on a dead corpse, not sure about the barbel, suppose a cormorant could have done it but unusual it would be feeding if it had literally just been attacked, more likely infected sores............. It is no good using evidence that is questionable, would do the campaign more damage than good in the long run...........
 
Regarding the campaign,

What is the general consensus out there, are people generally in favour?

Has everyone taken the time to send off a letter to their local MP, have they recieved replys?

Jim's factsheet is a marvellous idea, well done that man!

Regards,

Jeff
 
Jeff Edisbury said:
Regarding the campaign,

What is the general consensus out there, are people generally in favour?

Has everyone taken the time to send off a letter to their local MP, have they recieved replys?

Jim's factsheet is a marvellous idea, well done that man!

Regards,

Jeff
Click to expand...

Thanks, Jeff. I don't want to think in years to come that I wish that I had done something. I feel that a face to face with an individual (M.P.) carries more weight and has more impact than a general group letter. The fact that before I saw my M.P., she had done some homework so that she could discuss the issue of cormorant predation provided her with a greater insight into the problem. Apart from our little digs, M.P.s are busy people and that's why I left her with a fact sheet on cormorant damage and a graph showing cormorant numbers ballooning from 2000 or so in the 1980s to 20,000+ today. she needed information that she could see at a glance. As far as I am aware, my 15 minute meeting was a major success and we have Nicky Morgan on our side.
 
Here's the account of the comorants and the carp pictured above.

Cormorants and Fishing? - Lucky Greens

Posted in Coarse Fishing, Tips and Ideas on Oct 16th, 2012.

We anglers are continually moaning about the ever-increasing presence of cormorants – a predatory bird erroneously put on the protected list thanks to a bureaucratic cock-up by the E.U. (as I understand it, they wanted to protect the shag, a less numerous bird much like a cormorant, and evidently the name in Brussels covers both!).
Anyway, for those ‘birdy types’ who think that our protestations are a bit OTT and those who say they only eat a few small fish, please read on!

Can Cormorants Harm Freshwater Fish?
Recently my best friend Ken and I witnessed three cormorants diving repeatedly in the same area of his lake. After a while, between them, they dragged a very large carp to the surface where they continued, as a team, to bite and rip at it. We watched in horror as the helpless fish tried vainly and unsuccessfully to escape, and despite the fact that we frightened them away (we are not legally allowed to shoot them), we later found it dying in the pool margin. What an horrendous sight! Its lips had been almost torn off and one side of the poor creature was virtually skinned, with deep lacerations all over. It really was a very sad and depressing thing to witness, especially considering that we had seen this fish grow over the years from 2 or 3lbs up to 30lbs 4oz the last time it was caught. Furthermore Ken told me that this was the second large carp in his pool to suffer a similar fate.

Poor Carp!
Protecting these ghastly killers is like giving a fox the key to the chicken pen and I would really like to know why our lily-livered government procrastinates in returning them to the vermin list, where they rightly belong. If they ever do the problem will be solved within a month!

As far as I am concerned, cormorants should stick to the seaside!
 
Let's face facts here, Nothing will change, no official will order the cull of the 0000's of birds needed, look what happened recently over the proposed badger cull, public outrage and a climb down

Anglers and clubs need to look after their own , discreetly . Nobody else will help, they just blow smoke up your *ss and swiftly move you on
 
I think that part of the problem is that of most anglers being too laid back (or lazy) to do anything to make the situation change.

If you look just at the club scene you will see the same old faces on work party's and committees, why? Because the majority just want to fish and are happy to leave other people to do the work.

IMO, its the same here, people will moan about the cormorant issue but that's about all.

With over a million anglers in the Country (although this number goes up and down whoever is reporting it) there must be a power for change, if we all chose to make a thing happen, then I am sure we could make it happen.
 
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