The double-crested cormorant decimates sport fish populations, crowds other birds off Great Lakes islands and just may be responsible for Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance—or so goes popular opinion.

The fish-eating birds, rare in the 1970s when they became federally protected, have rebounded remarkably. The Great Lakes population is at an all-time high, and they are widely blamed for crashing populations of fish species. Indeed, they are skilled fish eaters, capable of diving 20 feet deep or more, where they use keen eyesight to hunt alewife, their primary prey, and other small fish.

But anecdotal accounts of the cormorants’ impact on fisheries have not been backed by research. Studies have not shown definitive links between cormorants and fisheries depletion.

Until there is proof that cormorants are having an unacceptably harmful impact on the ecosystem, the Michigan Nature Association (MNA) will continue to protect them and other native birds on Association-owned Bird and Grass islands near Alpena in Lake Huron.

That’s not a popular stand with many in the Alpena community who are pressuring MNA to suppress the cormorant population on these islands. The pressure also comes from Alpena community leaders and U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

At this time, the only other islandowner who has declined the USDA’s offer to control cormorants is the Fish and Wildlife Service Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge, which owns and manages Scarecrow Island. The MNA is  in close contact with them as they perform continuing research within Thunder Bay and will review their studies to determine whether cormorant control should be considered.

—Sherri Laier, Michigan Nature Association