Dedicated to ensuring future generations will have quality fishing opportunities.

by Michael Erskine Manitoulin Recorder

M'CHIGEENG-It was billed by politicians and the Ministry of Natural Resources as a 'good news' meeting, but once last week's public information meeting in the Manitoulin Secondary School main hall, was over. The net results were greeted with more anger and disgust than elation by local fishing enthusiasts and commercial fishermen.

The meeting officially began with an address by Cindy Blancher-Smith, district manager for the Ministry of Natural Resources, which foreshadowed that the announced measures would fall short of expectations.

Ms. Blancher-Smith introduced a bevy of ministry officials, including Regional Manager Bud Hebner, Fish and Wildlife Specialist Bob Florean, Area Biologists Chris Salinger and Holly Simpson, as well as a number of armed and unarmed conservation officers, who did not take an active part in the evening's proceedings. A number of OPP officers were also in evidence during the meeting.

Manitoulin Detachment Commander Staff Sergeant Bruce McCullagh said he and other members of his force had come out to the meeting, in part out of personal interest in the issue, and in part to support their fellow law enforcement officers, the MNR conservation officers.

Comments during the meeting made it clear that, for some at least, the issue is a very emotional and personal one. In response to one questioner who asked what the MNR intended to do to counter the hatred the issue had engendered among those who traditionally support the MNR's work, a noticeably unsettled Ms. Blancher-Smith replied that 'hate' is a strong word.

For the most part, however, the meeting was more remarkable for its calm civility than for its open confrontation, especially considering the strong emotions and frustration that have built up in the angling and commercial fisheries over the past five years.

Two MNR scientists, Dr. Bruce Pollard, an avian biologist, and Dr. Mark Ridgway, who along with Dr. John Casselman (who was unable to attend), recognized as one of the foremost experts in the field, had conducted an in-depth study of the birds in seven locations on the North Channel and Georgian Bay over the past five years, were on hand to take the audience through the intricacies of the ministry's science.

The presentation, accompanied by slides of varying complexity and quality, lasted for well over an hour, trying the patience of many who had come to hear what the ministry intended to do about the cormorants, and not why they were doing it.

The scientists struggled, by their own admission, to present the complex scientific data in a form that could be readily digested by the average layman. To some extent they succeeded, and many in the audience afterward applauded the hard work and diligence of the team. Still many remained both skeptical and suspicious of the presentation.

"Basically it was a stalling tactic," said Jim Sloss, president of the United Fish and Game Clubs of Manitoulin, in his assessment. "There is another agenda in play here."

Dr. Pollard delivered background on the double-crested cormorant, identifying it as one of six species of the cormorant to be found naturally in North America. Over the past half-decade, he said, the population of double-crested cormorants has increased dramatically.

Scientists are still unsure of what has caused that growth, but two hypotheses seem to be strongly supported. The first is that the whole Great Lakes ecosystem is undergoing a period of massive change, and the second was a steep increase in the available food supply, especially in the bird's main wintering grounds in Florida and the Mississippi Valley.

It has been established, he noted, that the cormorant consumes 3/4 of a pound of biomass a day, preferring smaller (less than 6-inch) fish as prey.

"They are opportunistic feeders," he said. "They tend to concentrate on slow-moving or schooling fish."

The birds nest upon Islands, preferring isolated deep lake islands where the threat of larger mammalian predators is slight to non-existent.

The cormorant travelled from the west of the province to the east in the 1900s, he said.

In a series of dramatic projected images during his later presentation, Dr. Ridgway displayed the scope of the dramatic increase of the bird's new range. Tiny circles expanded into ever-increasing circumferences, until finally, in 2002, the entire North Channel was, for all intents and purposes, completely covered in circles.

Where the province is concerned about this growth on a number of fronts, said Dr. Pollard, is in their impact on fish stocks, rare habitat, other wildlife (particularly at-risk species) and finally, water quality issues.

Dr. Pollard went into the various options to deal with the bird, discarding a number of them as having obvious shortcomings.

Opening the act to include the cormorant with six other birds that are excepted from protection (a crow being an example of one of the six) is difficult to do, he said, the last major revision having taken place in 1997, and that only after years of study and justification.

Opening a hunting season on cormorants, or allowing their indiscriminate slaughter as a nuisance bird, is inherently out of the question, he noted, as there is a decided shortage of cormorant recipes. Waste of game cannot be tolerated. Simply put, the birds don't taste good enough to eat.

As to the eradication of the species, even the Ontario Federation of Hunters and Anglers, he said, were not in favour of that course of action, let alone the broad public support that would be needed to mover that agenda forward.

The simplest rationale for a cull, the one easiest to support with scientific data, he said, is the one being used in Presqu’ile-an endangerment of rare habitat. Although the case could be made for a cull there, the same case does not hold up in Georgian Bay or the North Channel.

In an argument that was to be repeated throughout the presentation, the two scientists said that any move to control the number of cormorants would face certain challenge in the courts and almost certainly an injunction stopping the action. At present, he asserted, there are too many gaps in the MNR's data to justify a concerted cull of the species.

Mr. Sloss challenged that position. While he accepts the likelihood of a challenge, he said his sources indicate the MNR's science would stand up to peer review scrutiny as well as the courts.

Dr. Ridgway described studying the expansion of the cormorants into Georgian Bay and the North Channel and the impact as an "intimidating problem because of the huge scale involved."

He went on to describe his five-year study in great detail, including the methodology, techniques and equipment utilized, as well as the studies major findings.

The cormorant numbers in the areas studied, he said, had shown a massive and precipitous decline starting at the peak in 2002. There are currently only a third of the number of cormorants in the area that were found in that study period, roughly analogous to the numbers found in 1995.

The reason for this decline, it is believed, was a concurrent decline in the number of alewives (a small forage fish common on the Great Lakes and North Channel). The cormorants were not responsible for the decline, he asserted with an absolute confidence rare in a scientific analysis.

"No credible scientist would claim that the cormorants were responsible," he said. "The alewives declined even in the middle of the lake where there are no cormorants."

A US survey trawler sampling the fish found in the deep regions of the lake came up with only four alewives, where previously there would have been literally millions.

A more likely cause for the alewife decline were two particularly harsh winters that decimated the alewife populations.

The fortuitous result of this decline, he believes, is that current cormorant numbers are approaching the ecosystem's carrying capacity for the bird.

As a result of its studies, said Ms. Blancher-Smith, the MNR has resolved to continue their research efforts into 2005, continuing to oil eggs in the study areas, and to collect data on cormorant numbers through flight studies in May.

A new study will establish lake productivity and the impact being made by the birds. The extension of the study into the area of the inland lakes is essential to any effort to establish controls, she said. One of the critical items to be established by the study will be a baseline from which to judge the impact of the cormorant on inland lake fish populations. The model for this study has not yet been completed.

Reaction to the presentation, and the MNR's proposed course of action was swift and resoundingly negative, as speaker after speaker rose to challenge the MNR's assertions and plan of action.

Cottagers described the scene of thousands of birds herding fish into shallow bays were they gorged upon them, while others recalled previous meetings half-a-decade ago during which the ministry said they did not have sufficient data.

One cottager described his arrival 10 years ago and remarked that even three years ago, the clouds of large smelt that he could once find on the shoals in the bay in front of his property would yield a fish fry in a matter of minutes. Now, he said, the numbers of fish were in the dozens, with most too small to be considered.

"I can no longer guarantee my visitors that they will be able to catch a fish," he said sadly.

Commercial fisherman George Purvis wanted the amount of fish taken by cormorants made clear.

The MNR officials reaffirmed that the bird's take exceeded that of the commercial fisherman by over 300 percent.

The loudest applause of the evening, however,  was reserved for Aundeck Omni Kaning Chief Patrick Madahbee, who referred to the evening as an exercise in propaganda and filibustering.

His opinion seemed to reflect the assessment of most of the audience following the meeting.

Minstry officials commented that the evening had gone better than expected.

 

By Michael Erskine  Manitoulin Recorder

M'CHIGEENG - A solemn United Fish and Game Clubs of Manitoulin (UFGCM) President Jim Sloss read a prepared statement calling for an end to a planned illegal cormorant cull during last week's public information meeting on the cormorant issue held at Manitoulin Secondary School.

"Following consultations with MNR personnel last week, the UFGCM decided, at a special meeting on April 26, to appeal to its members and the public in general, to halt the May 24 weekend public protest cormorant cull on and around Manitoulin," he read.

Mr. Sloss went on to say that the "self-help initiative was an emergency measure borne out of the dangerous decline in shallow water fish species attributed to unsustainably high numbers of double-crested cormorants in the area."

A sea of stoic faces in the audience greeted the announcement, but most were already aware that the cull would be called off that night, including MNR officials.

"The problem is," continued Mr. Sloss, "a short, sharp cull on Manitoulin would not now significantly reduce the cormorant population because their numbers have become so great and their range so expansive throughout the Great Lakes and further north, that a snapshot effort would have no real impact."

The consensus of UFGCM members, he continued, was that the minimal benefit of a one-weekend cull was far outweighed by the risk such a cull would pose to volunteers.

"While there was no doubt that hunters could hunt safely," he said, "variables introduced by promised involvement of OPP, MNR and anti-angler, pro-cormorant extremists raised public safety concerns."

"We don't want anyone getting hurt over cormorants," added long-time cormorant control advocate Rick Fogal in the release.

Mr. Sloss was adamant that the calling off of the cull in no way should be construed as support for the MNR's approach to the cormorant problem or an endorsement of the limited actions announced at the meeting.

A sense of despair over the fate of the fishery has permeated the angling industry on Manitoulin, he noted.

"What we are afraid of is that it is going to take 10, 15 or 20 years to undo the damage that has been done," he said. "We may never see the fishery rebound. We can only hope that the powers that be will assemble the fortitude to do what needs to be done before it is entirely too late for the fish stocks."

Cormorant Stamp Deemed an Irony  - Volunteers Still Poised to Cull Canada Post's Poster Bird  

by Jim Moodie  

Manitoulin Expositor: A few people in these parts might go practically postal-or at least, raise their eyebrows a bit-when they see a stamp that was recently issued as part of a popular Birds of America Series. There, in all its black, ungainly glory, is the double-crested cormorant.

The cormorant is one of five shorebirds featured in Canada Post's final installment of the three-part series, which commemorates the work that legendary wildlife artist John James Audubon conducted while traveling in Canada in the 1830s.

The other stamps in the set depict the horned lark, piping plover, stilt sandpiper and willow ptarmigan. The cormorant stamp stands out from the others, however, and not just because this bird has recently irked Islanders to the point that a bunch of them are planning to head out on the May 24 weekend to "cull" (i.e.. kill) a bunch.

Sure, there's that, but there's also the painting itself, which is much more stark and bold than the other four. While the other species are rendered in pairs, doing rather unremarkable things against muted backdrops, the cormorant is shown singly and up close, in sharp profile, its neck dramatically arched and beak cracked open in a mighty, defiant squawk.

The stamp is also different in both in shape and value: it's a large, squarish, 85-cent US stamp, while the others are smaller, rectangular, run-of-the-mill 50-centers.

Such special treatment will no doubt cause the more paranoid to suspect a deep, dark collusion between environmental NGOs and The Government, but it should also be noted that Mr. Audubon has done little to advance the case, if one can be made, for the cormorant as an attractive creature.

Mr. Audubon’s cormorant looks contorted, prehistoric, and frankly creepy, like something that might flap out of the pages of Edgar Allen Poe or a murky corner of Middle Earth.

When informed of the unflattering picture, Rick Fogal, co-chair of the United Fish and Game Clubs of Manitoulin (UFGCM), chuckled happily. "Well, it's kinda hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear," he said.

Mr. Fogal had heard that the stamp was out (it was released on March 17), but said he didn't plan to get one. "The only thing I've got is a 'public enemy number one' cormorant button," he said, adding that the UFGCM is presently selling buttons and hats with this slogan to raise funds for legal defence, as the group expects some fines and charges to flow from its unauthorized cull planned for May 24.

The UFGCM co-chair said he doesn't have much faith in Canada Post to begin with ("I can walk my mail faster than they can send it"), so he's "not surprised that they'd put a cormorant on a stamp."

Postal workers were themselves somewhat surprised to see the bird depicted on a stamp. "When I noticed them coming in, I thought, 'Oh, no, of all the birds to pick!'" related Sheila Armstrong at the Manitowaning post office.

Gloria Haner at the Mindemoya post office did a bit of a double-take, too, as have customers who have come in to buy the stamp series. "I've had people saying, 'I can't believe you're doing that.'"

Neither the Gore Bay nor Little Current post offices, curiously enough, had the cormorant stamps in stock when they were contacted last Thursday. Both post offices had the other four bird stamps, but not the cormorant one.

Hmmm. Was there some speciesism going on here? Had the UFGCM leaned on them?

No, it was simply a matter of what they'd been sent by Canada Post, said the post office staff in both locations. "I guess they never gave us any," said Connie Merrylees in Gore Bay. "So we don't have the cormorant ones. We just have the pretty ones."

The Little Current post office took quick action to order some in, however, and cormorant stamps were available on last Friday from this location.

Mrs. Haner said that Canada Post usually sends what they call a "forced issue" (i.e.., books of the special stamps that are automatically circulated to all post offices, although it's a term you could also apply to the UFGCM's cormorant cull) when a new series comes out, but in this case she had to order them.

"I have a few people here who collect stamps, so I just ordered them," she explained. "I have 50 sets, and I've sold a couple so far." As for the cormorant being included in the sets, "I don't think the customers were very pleased," she added.

Mrs. Haner did note, however, that the "bird series have been quite popular over the years."

The shorebirds that join the cormorant in the latest set of the Audubon series may not be very familiar to some Islanders, but that doesn't mean they haven't made stops here over the years, or even called Manitoulin home at one time or another.

Amateur ornithologist Chris Bell of Green Bay noted that the piping plover, for instance, while extremely rare now around the Great Lakes, "used to nest at Carter Bay on the sand dunes," and was reportedly seen on Great Duck Island several years ago. 

A ptarmigan, normally a denizen of James Bay, was spied in the Kagawong area a couple of years ago, he said, although it wasn't determined which type it was; it could have been either a rock or a willow ptarmigan.

Horned larks normally nests in the tundra up North, but in the fall, while migrating, they've been seen feeding in Manitoulin stubble fields along with sandhill cranes, said the birdwatcher. And stilt sandpipers can also be seen during the fall migration; a good spot to look for them, said Mr. Bell, is the sandy portion of Misery Bay.  

Of course, one doesn't have to travel too far, during spring, summer or fall, to see a cormorant. Mr. Bell said they usually arrive back in these parts around April 1, meaning you could probably go out and find one in the open part of the North Channel right about now.

And on May 24, of course, you could go out and shoot one, too, if you feel like joining the vigilante cull planned for that festive weekend.  

Of the five birds in the series, Mr. Bell said jokingly (but just half-jokingly), "I think the cormorant is the most threatened one."

The Ministry of Natural Resources has not yet brought forward a plan to control the cormorant population in the North Channel, but according to Craig Hughson, a senior policy advisor in the office of Natural Resources Minister David Ramsay, an announcement is coming soon. "The Minister is considering options on how to move forward, and will have something to announce before May 24."  

Meanwhile, back in the stamp world, there are other special series to look forward to. Next up? (Brace yourself.) "We have a biosphere set coming out," said Mrs. Haner.

This set of stamps, she explained, is a "Canada-Ireland joint issue on biosphere reserves, coming out on April 22."

The set will feature biosphere reserves in both countries, including Killarney National Park in Ireland (not to be confused with Killarney Provincial Park in Ontario, of course), and the Waterton Lakes biosphere reserve in southwestern Alberta.

"I remember seeing that this was coming up and thinking, 'Gee, aren't I lucky,'" said Postmistress Haner. "First the cormorant, now the biosphere."

At the same time, she said she thinks both series of stamps are interesting and attractive. Of the biosphere series, she remarked, "It is quite nice. And most people can't read the fine print, so I'll probably sell a lot of those, too."  

Charlie Turner models one of the cap-and-button combos currently on sale at Charlie's Shell in Gore Bay. The United Fish and Game Clubs of Manitoulin are selling the "Public Enemy # 1" cormorant merchandise to build up a kitty for legal defence, as the group expects to face fines and charges when it takes to the waters on the May 24 weekend to cull adult cormorants.   Photo by Tom Sasvari

Author: Bill Thompson Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record

I've been putting pen to paper about the outdoors for about 20 years now and I'm still amazed at the achievements of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.

Originally started as the Peterborough Game and Fish Protective Association in 1928, it was joined by several hunters' organizations in 1947 and renamed the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.

Over the years, it has evolved into the largest conservation organization in Ontario with 83,000 members. And when it comes to protecting and enhancing fish and wildlife conservation efforts, it's tenacious.

"For 70 years, one of Ontario's most successful lobby groups...Low key and polite yet, by all accounts, devastatingly effective..." wrote Thomas Walkom, national affairs writer for the Toronto Star in describing the federation.

The accolades continued earlier this month when the Great Lakes Fishery Commission applauded the work of the federation to secure an important increase in funds for sea lamprey control in the Great Lakes.

This funding increase announced by Fisheries and Oceans Minister Geoff Regan came after strong and sustained support from the federation and after recommendations from Huron-Bruce MP Paul Steckle; the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, and the Auditor General of Canada for more money for sea lamprey control.

This commitment to more sea lamprey control means many more sea lampreys will be eliminated from the Great Lakes before they attack and kill valuable sport and commercial fish.

Under the minister's proposal, Canada will provide $8.1 million per year to combat the sea lamprey, a $2-million increase above current funding. U.S. President George W. Bush has proposed a similar increase in 2006.

I Sea lampreys, a fish native to the Atlantic Ocean, invaded the Great Lakes in the early 20th century through shipping canals. Having no predators in the Great Lakes, and having an almost endless supply of fish to feed on, sea lampreys quickly decimated the fishery and caused significant economic harm.

PROGRAM A GREAT SUCCESS

Recognizing the serious problem, the governments of Canada and the U. S. established a joint control program through the Great Lakes Fishery Commission in partnership with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The sea lamprey control program has been a phenomenal success: sea lamprey populations in many areas of the Great Lakes have been reduced by 90 per cent.

They will never be eliminated completely from the Great Lakes, however, so ongoing control is needed.

"The government's announcement of increased funding for sea lamprey control after determined support from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters is great news for anyone who values a healthy fishery," said commissioner Robert Hecky of the University of Waterloo.

"Canada's additional funds will allow the commission and its partners to intensify the sea lamprey battle, continue to drive down sea lamprey populations, and protect hundreds of thousands of fish that would otherwise have fallen victim to this voracious pest.

"The Great Lakes Fishery Commission is particularly grateful to the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters for their work to convince the government to enhance sea lamprey control. The federation's work will benefit the Great Lakes tremendously. We also appreciate the outstanding work of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans, chaired by Mr. Tom Wappel, MP (Scarborough Southwest); the Auditor General of Canada, and Mr. Paul Steckle, MP, for their efforts to support and advocate more funds for sea lamprey control," concluded Hecky.

While sea lampreys will probably never be eliminated in the Great Lakes, they are a manageable problem if governments from both sides of the 49th parallel continue their efforts and financial commitment.

Rest assured the federation will do everything it can to ensure the battle with sea lampreys stays on the front burner in both Ottawa and Washington, D.C.

This article appeared in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record on March 26, 2005

After nearly 40 years of salmon stocking, Lake Huron's sport fish community is beginning to again resemble what it was like before the salmon program began.

Perch and walleye populations are showing improvement, lake trout fishing is good and lake herring -- a fish that provides both recreational opportunity as well as a forage base for other fishes higher up the food chain -- is doing extremely well.

But state fisheries biologists warn that the Great Lake has changed in other ways.

"Some of the elements that used to be there are coming back," said Tammy Newcomb, the Lake Huron fisheries coordinator for the Department of Natural Resources. "But it's not going to look like it used to because of zebras and quaggas (mussels), gobies, water fleas and the other invasives that are there now."

Salmon fishing has been in decline in recent years despite a continuous stocking program.

"Right now, we have evidence that 80 percent of the chinook we've sampled have been wild-produced fish," Newcomb said. "It challenges our assumptions. We used to assume that something like 15 percent of the fish out there were wild and the rest were planted. Now we're seeing just the opposite."

Newcomb has no explanation for the increased catch-rate of wild fish, which are thought to be produced mostly in the rivers on the Canadian side of the big lake. And the only explanation for the poor salmon fishery seems to be a poor forage base. Alewives, the primary food of Great Lakes salmon, are in short supply in Lake Huron.

"There are still some in the lake, contrary to popular belief, but they are few and far between," Newcomb said. "Right now, they are suppressed at levels that we've not ever seen."

Although alewives are capable of producing big year-classes -- even when their populations are suppressed -- environmental conditions have been poor recently, Newcomb said. The lake produced a huge year-class in 2003, but a cool growing season followed by a harsh winter took them out.

"It's sort of like farming -- you never know what the weather's going to hold," Newcomb said.

But the fishing news isn't entirely bleak, according to Newcomb.

"We have very, very good reproduction of yellow perch from 2003 and 2004," she said. "We were hoping to see that 2003 year-class carry over -- it was something like 37 times greater than was previously ever recorded -- but we didn't see the carryover. This year also threw off a big crop of yellow perch, but they were small, too. So we're seeing good natural reproduction, which we haven't seen since the late 80s, but we haven't seen the big year-classes carry over. But this has been a mild winter, so we may see that 2004 year-class carry over. We're hoping.

"Walleyes are doing very well and they appear to be carrying over. Most of the data is from Saginaw Bay, but we've been hearing very good reports of walleye fishing up and down the coast."

What holds the most promise for the salmon fishery is the herring population.

"Lake herring, a native species which were pretty much ousted by alewives, are increasing and expanding in the places where they are found," Newcomb said. "Our hope is those populations will continue to grow and will fill that niche where alewives used to.

"Herring could provide a good forage base for salmon and they grow beyond the size that predators can use them, so that preserves the brood stock. They're good forage for lake trout, too."

Lake trout? Ever since officials have been treating the St. Marys River for lampreys, lakers have been on the comeback.

"That lake trout fishery has been tremendous," Newcomb said.

As for salmon, there's evidence, by the number of fish returning to the weirs, that there are more fish out there than anglers are catching, Newcomb said, though she's at a loss to explain why. Chinook salmon are known to travel up to 50 miles a day in the ocean and it could be the big fish are just roaming out of traditional fishing territories.

In 2003, 28 percent of the fish that were planted in Lake Huron and were caught had strayed into Lake Michigan, where the alewife population is in better shape.

"They're seeking out better forage," Newcomb said.

By Eric Howald Kincardine Independent Newspaper

The harsh winters of the past two years have caused a significant die-off of alewives in Lake Huron. At one time, the small fish used to die off by the thousands each spring, stinking up area beaches.

The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources stocked the lake with Chinook Salmon from the Pacific Ocean to control the population of the alewives, a foreign invader.

Lloyd Mohr of the Ministry’s Upper Great Lakes Management Unit, says that the ministry didn’t believe the salmon would reproduce naturally in Lake Huron. However, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Most of the salmon in the lake are there because of natural reproduction.

With the reduction in alewives in the lake is down, anglers won’t see many large fish this year, says Mohr. Because of the shortage of food, salmon are spawning earlier.

Salmon used to spawn after three or four years on the lake; now most are spawning after two years, says Mohr. The ministry hasn’t seen five-year-old fish spawning for years.

The drop in the number of alewives could also be the reason for the jump in the number of walleye and yellow perch. The class of 2003 for both species is the largest in 40 years - on Lakes Huron, St. Clair, Erie and Michigan. Mohr says the alewives eat the spawn of walleye and yellow perch. In nature, a change in numbers of one species can affect many others.

Thank you to all that were involved because without your assistance we could not carry out these projects.

The following is an interesting comparison of the number of fish entered in the 2003 and 2004 Derbies. Also remember that this year there was a 5 pound minimum weight limit for salmon.

The Lake Huron Fishing Club would like to thank all the unpaid volunteers who help in successfully raising and releasing Chinook Salmon & Brown Trout each and every year. Good luck fishing, you all deserve it.

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