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Conservationists: Agency ignored cormorant analysis

Associated Press

PORTLAND – Conservation groups opposed to the ongoing killing of cormorants on the Columbia River to protect steelhead and salmon say they have documents showing a federal agency ignored a finding by its own biologists that the measure would not help the fish.

The Audubon Society of Portland and several other groups made the documents public Wednesday. They were obtained from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under a court order.

The groups had challenged the killing in a federal lawsuit. In May, a judge declined to block the plan to shoot the cormorants, but the lawsuit is ongoing.

One of the newly disclosed documents is an analysis by U.S. Fish and Wildlife biologists concluding that killing double-breasted cormorants would not benefit Snake River steelhead – which are most affected by cormorant predation – because fish not eaten by the birds would be eaten by other predators.

“As a consequence, efforts to reduce cormorant predation on steelhead are expected to have no effect on Snake River steelhead population productivity or adult abundance,” the analysis says. It adds that killing cormorants is “similarly unlikely to benefit the productivity of … other salmonid populations.”

The second document, a timeline written by Fish and Wildlife biologists, shows multiple staff at the agency were aware of the analysis and its conclusion. It also shows the biologists were concerned that the U.S. Corps of Engineers did not address their findings.

Despite the analysis, earlier this year U.S. Fish and Wildlife authorized the Corps to kill about 11,000 cormorants – or 5,600 breeding pairs – on East Sand Island at the mouth of the Columbia between Oregon and Washington. The agency also authorized the Corps to oil 26,000 nests to prevent the eggs inside them from hatching. So far, 158 cormorants have been killed using .22-caliber rifles and more than 5,089 nests have been oiled, destroying the eggs inside them.

Both agencies declined to comment on the documents, citing ongoing litigation.