Cormorant Control Meeting Is Monday Night at St. Ignace
By Paul Gingras

A meeting is planned Monday, March 17, to update the public on ongoing efforts to limit the population of double-crested cormorants at Brevort Lake. The 7 p.m. meeting, hosted by the Straits Area Sportsmen's Club, will be at St. Ignace Middle School.

The meeting will explain activities and achievements of the cormorant control program, current plans, and include a question-andanswer period. The sportsmen's club credits the recent improvement of fish populations in Brevort Lake to the cormorant control project. The birds, which have been prevalent there in recent years, consume upon yellow perch, northern pike, crayfish, white sucker, and walleye.

Guest speaker will be Larry Meier of Houghton Lake, and the group anticipates attendance by Michigan legislators, representatives of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the Bay Mills Indian Community, and Mark Ebener, fisheries biologist for the Chippewa Ottawa Resource Authority. State Representatives Gary McDowell, Joel Sheltrown, Darwin Booher, and Tom Casperson are expected to attend, said club member Louis Colegrove.

Mr. Meier has been an advocate for cormorant control programs. He has addressed the Michigan House of Representatives and the Michigan Senate on the matter, and helped obtain funding for cormorant control projects from the United States Department of Agriculture, Mr. Colegrove said. He has worked with the Sportsmen's Club on the cormorant control project since 2005.

The project includes shooting the birds when they arrive, shortly after the ice melts until May 14, then sportsmen will drive off remaining birds with pyrotechnic launchers throughout the summer, said club member Jimmie Miller.