Regarding the cormorant slaughter - Just a note about a personal experience.
I have a small pond 150' x 100', 12' deep which I had dug in 1985. Over the
years, I''ve kept it stocked with rainbow trout and enjoyed fishing year
around.

I've always been happy to share my fish with great blue herons and the
occasional cormorant. I restocked it in October 1998 with 50 10" to 12" fish
and 300 fingerlings (5" to 7") and all was fine until mid November. Suddenly
a single cormorant showed up and began fishing regularly. Within 2 days his
buddies showed up and I had 4 cormorants on my pond for one week. Efforts to
scare them away were fruitless, they would return as soon as I left. After
one week they had caught every single fish. They killed several larger fish
they couldn't swallow and left them floating on the pond.

I am about 10 miles from saltwater and until about 2 years ago had never seen
a cormorant here. I left the pond unstocked until a couple days ago, I'm
hoping they have found greener pastures. The state game department tells me
cormorant populations are quite high on many freshwater lakes in the area.
If my experience is typical, they are very efficient predators. Any
suggestions?

Incidentally I think the cormorant slaughter was deplorable too. As human
populations expand I fear a growing conflict between people and wildlife.

Terry Whitworth