nyseagrant.org\/cormorant.<\/a> <\/p>\nThe data could influence how the birds are managed.<\/p>\n
Why the birds are a problem<\/p>\n
Anglers and fishing businesses along Lake Ontario say the cormorants are taking a toll on fish populations. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a bird that obviously predates both bait fish and a lot of our sport fish,\u201d said Bill Saiff, of Bill Saiff Outdoors. \u201cWe would certainly be doing better from a tourism standpoint if that managed level was lower than it is right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Peter Dayger, a member of the Henderson Harbor Yacht Club, said large flocks of the birds are a common sight.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe 25 or 30 in a very small area, fishing,\u201d Dayger said. \u201cThey\u2019re all diving, and they\u2019re a voracious eater.\u201d<\/p>\n
What officials are doing<\/p>\n
Stacy Furgal, an ecosystem health specialist with New York Sea Grant, said the birds are legally protected, which limits what can be done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re a native bird species in New York, migratory, and federally protected,\u201d Furgal said.<\/p>\n
In the past, officials have oiled cormorant eggs so they don\u2019t hatch. Other population control methods have also been utilized.<\/p>\n
Furgal said the public survey is the next step. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re interested in knowing about the number of birds you observe, what the birds are doing,\u201d Furgal said. \u201cAre they eating fish?\u201d<\/p>\n
How your observations could matter<\/p>\n
\u201cThis information will then be shared with local agencies, local governments, and partners so they can then better inform some of the management strategies that they\u2019re utilizing,\u201d Furgal said.<\/p>\n
Furgal said officials hope to gather data for at least a year before sharing results.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 WWNY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HENDERSON HARBOR, New York (WWNY) – The double-crested cormorant population in New York state is growing, and officials…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319169,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[120353,9,11,10,65150,49,51,50,120354,13716],"class_list":["post-319168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-double-crested-cormorant","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-sea-grant","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-population-growing","tag-survey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319168"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319168\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}