Cormorants or Otters

[fish]

Hi Liam,

Those are most definitely the work of a white breasted cormorant. Often these wounds will heal over time but will still be visible as scars on the fish. Being involved at Dewdale and Wiesenhof with the management of the fishery, I've see white breasted cormorants take 1 kilo. fish and have heard they eat up to a third of their body weight during a day (would guess an adult bird weighs 4kg.). For any fishery they can become a nightmare, with some fisheries in the UK taking huge losses every season, where as far as I know they can apply for a specific permit to shoot these birds.

What I have seen at Wiesenhof especially is the cormorants would come in greater numbers as soon as a cold front create rough seas and the inland waters offer more shelter and an easy meal. Also after new stockings, the not street smart trout, are an easy target.

Otters on the other hand would rather feed on crabs, they would move in at Dewdale at dusk. These otters will catch fish and mainly eat the bony head parts. After they had their fill they seem to start playing and bite the fish and throw it around. Mark would catch some of the otters in cages and release them in Theewaterskloof dam. Invariably they would hop into the tunnel connecting Theewaterskloof with the Berg river and would be back at Dewdale rather soon. These otters are real fighting machines when cornered, Mark's two Rhodesian Ridgebacks cornered an otter once, well the 2 dogs took the silver and bronze medals.

Another challenge is that the cormorants after being chased away would feed at first light, in and out.

White Breasted cormorants will always be there and I'm sure the whole natural balance is reached with the fittest fish surviving, problem is the monetary issue when stocking with trout.

Cheers,

Philip

[cptfly]

Well I have spotted a big cormorant on SB6 already, in their area of puffadder pool

[swsmith]

liam,speak to clinton.maybe his old man can sort the problem out.he doesnt miss much.even with open sites.i know its not humane but i want to catch fish when i go there.

[chris williams]

We also have white-breasted cormorants up here in Gauteng - they also create havoc for guys with trout in their dams here. The cormorants become very street-wise and seem to take their fill before 'humans' surface then they disappear very quickly only to return in the evenings when 'humans' have in turn disappeared for the day. If they reach semi-plague proportions I reckon they should be 'taken out' humanely, but maybe one or two should be left to mop up sick fish etc as others have said this may not be a bad thing in the Law of the Jungle. Maybe the 'birders' can advise their viewpoint on this? I don't like killing wildlife unneccessarily, but the harm these birds can do to trout farmers' pockets, to our fishing and most importantly to the fish themselves is without doubt cause for concern.