The following message appeared on the birders at umich.edu website for the Michigan area birders. I presume that this is a federal bill? Does anyone else know anything about how and where it originated?



>I'm currently looking at the bill in the US house, (bill HR3118) which is a
>clearly worded(!) proposal to allow hunting of the Double-crested Cormorant.
>Currently the bird is protected by the migratory bird act as a non-game
>species. This bill looks to lift that designation and allow states to set
>hunting seasons for the birds. The motivation doesn't seem to come from a
>demand from duck hunters, but rather from a desire to drastically reduce
>numbers of these birds due to the perception that they are hurting game fish
>populations throughout their range and hurting the productivity of fish
>farms in the south.
>
>If you want to look at the text, you can use the magnificent "Thomas"
>service which gives you all info on all congressional activity.
>
>Without jumping to conclusions, I'm wondering whether the hunting of DCCO
>(Double-crested Cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus) is the appropriate action.
>I am neither a hunter nor opposed to hunting per se, though I do tend to
>enjoy and approve of non-consumptive wildlife activities. That said, I'm
>also a meat eater...
>
>Anyway, as a birder and amateur naturalist, I am a little skeptical of the
>origins of this bill and I think it is possible that it is being promoted
>rather hastily considering that this bird was an endangered species 20 years
>ago in many parts of the country.
>
>I know many of you saw the posting a few days ago about this and I'm trying
>to find some answers to a few questions. In no particular order:
>
>1) Do we know what students of the DCCO think of this proposal?
>2) Is there good evidence that DCCO's harm wild fish populations?
>3) If yes, are they "sport fish"?
>4) If yes, is there evidence that the depredation of sport fish is beyond
>what could be seen as a natural relationship (i.e., not artificially
>repressed in recent years due to reduced populations of DCCO by human
>intervention)?
>5) What is the data on prior population levels of DCCO. The fish farmers
>claim that current levels are higher than they've ever been. Can we know
>this for sure? how long have we had good data on DCCO populations?
>6) What data do we have on the estimated cost of losses to catfish farmers?
>(they are the impetus behind this bill)
>7) Is there evidence that a hunting season (10 per day is the proposal)
>will accomplish the objective?
>