So now they want to kill some birds to save the salmon

Fed proposal to kill salmon eating birds. The ripple effects could be very interesting as it is very controversial ...

http://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/tech/science/environment/2014/06/13/salmon-eating-seabirds/10416987/

The genocide thing seems kinda harsh but i do have a great cormorant recipe.

The genocide thing seems kinda harsh but i do have a great cormorant recipe.

Agreed. Just kind of wasteful to just kill the cormorants and let them rot away while you have this wonderful recipe!

cormorants are federally protected but they don't need to be anymore.  their population has rebounded significantly and they are probably the best fish killing birds out there.

11 million juvenile salmon and consuming more each year.  It can be a thorny issue if both the predator and prey are endangered species. I agree that the cormorant should be delisted.

At some point, this debate reaches a spot of utter ridiculousness though unfortunately. Its the fault of the stripers in the bay and the largemouth in the delta and now were blaming it on the cormorants ? Agreed, delist them,  but obviously these are the slim pickings issues that are significantly easier to attack rather than addressing the elephant in the room better known as water diversion.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bleeding heart thing and I don't have an "I heart cormorants" sticker on my car, but this comes across as rearranging chairs on the Titanic rather than fixing the hole the iceberg made in the hull.

Wow, for the person that you THOUGHT had everything ...

If it wasn't the cormorants eating them...something else would be!

It's a man made problem.  Sand Island is created from the dredging of the Columbia.  It just happens to make ideal nesting habitat for the cormorants as well as Caspian Terns (which are sure to be on the hit list too).

Of course there is a long line of man made problems.  Sea Lions are getting shot on the Columbia and pikeminnows have a bounty on them.

-Allen

At some point, this debate reaches a spot of utter ridiculousness though unfortunately. Its the fault of the stripers in the bay and the largemouth in the delta and now were blaming it on the cormorants ? Agreed, delist them,  but obviously these are the slim pickings issues that are significantly easier to attack rather than addressing the elephant in the room better known as water diversion.

Don't get me wrong, this isn't a bleeding heart thing and I don't have an "I heart cormorants" sticker on my car, but this comes across as rearranging chairs on the Titanic rather than fixing the hole the iceberg made in the hull.

Agree on the bass. I hardly see any cormorants over here in the rip vista to bethel island area if the delta. Use to be a lot in the early 90's hanging around the Antioch pier, but they've moved else where now. I've seen a school of smolts swimming along the banks of walnut grove. Only thing eating them were bass! No birds insight. Bass pushed them right along the shore.

Agreed, delist them,  but obviously these are the slim pickings issues that are significantly easier to attack rather than addressing the elephant in the room better known as water diversion.

well maybe so, but I don't see them tearing down bonneville or any of the other dams anytime soon.  So what do you do?  Keep letting the black death take 5% of all salmon and 10% of all steelie smolts?

Sign me up! I am locked, cocked, and ready to rock! #crawdadsgottaeattoo 

I agree with chattich  the problem has many parts. Predation of any kind will affect the numbers of smolts returning to the ocean however the biggest issue concerns water diversion and management at the time s the fish are in the river. Not enough water leaves the redds high and dry (American River this past year)and allows the temperature to get too warm for spawning to occur (Klamath  in years past). Eliminating the birds (cormorants and the terns is a needed step but so is managing the water for wildlife survival.
There is no political will for increasing water for wildlife, its just easier to kill some birds. 

Well California water diversion problems have nothing to do with Columbia river bird populations - or do they?

I was trying to point out examples of water management schemes that are put forth to the detriment of salmonid populations in California. Water diversions in California have a local effect. Water diversions/ management on the Columbia have similar negative effects on the salmonid populatoins there. Sand Island on the Columbia is an example of how we have created a problem out of ignorance and now have to fix the problem that we created. Kesterson Refuge and selenium toxicity in the San Joaquin valley is an other local example locally. The bottom line is we have too many demands on available water (pick any watershed) and too many user groups, some with no voice.