Do double-crested cormorants eat brown and lake trout, steelhead, and salmon?
A. Yes, particularly when they are small. Recently stocked schools of hatchery fish of these species are most at risk. Cormorants are attracted to these fish, as are large predatory sport fish. After these stocked fish disperse in the lake, they are much less likely to be eaten by a cormorant. In fact, fish species valued by sport and commercial anglers make up a very small proportion of the cormorant’s diet in open lake waters. Additional research will help scientists learn more about this important issue. Q. Do double-crested cormorants significantly affect fish populations in open waters? A. A. This is an important question without a definitive answer at this time. The perception among anglers in some locations is that cormorants are to blame for decreases in catch. However, according to dietary studies of cormorants on New York’s Oneida Lake, summer resident and migrating birds can diminish the number of catchable size walleye pike and yellow perch available to anglers, but overall
