HOT ISSUES & OLA POSITION STATEMENTS

The Oneida Lake Association is proud to partner with the following elected
officials and organizations to restore cormorant management:

• Cornell University--Shackleton Research Station

• The New York State Council of Trout Unlimited

• New York State Senator David Valesky

• New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

• New York State Assemblyn David Townsend

• The Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs

• Cornell Cooperative Extension

Hunter Access at Frenchman's Island
(Article submitted for site inclusion on 9/30/2008)

OLA, New York State Parks and Rec re-open Frenchman’s to the sporting public.

Since 2007, the Oneida Lake Association has been involved in conversations with New York State about the future of Frenchman’s Island—and we are happy that this summer, the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation announced its plan to open Frenchman’s as an unimproved New York State Park, forever preserving the island in its wild state.

Some of our constituents raised concerns that the island’s designation as a state park would limit access by hunters. We are pleased to report that thanks to a partnership between OLA and the parks agency, Frenchman’s has been re-opened to public waterfowl hunting, and will continue to be available to hunters with the appropriate permit paperwork. At Frenchman’s, the needed paperwork consists of a hunter’s valid New York small game license and Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp (permit requirements at other state parks may vary; check with the local park office).

Frenchman’s Island has a long history as one of Oneida Lake’s largest public hunting sites. For many years, it has been a place for waterfowl hunters to pursue their quarry as they please from September through December, with a tradition of courtesy for one another and for other lake users. Conservation officers have been regular and welcome visitors, and we have not observed problems with vandalism by hunters.

Oneida Lake’s Walleye and Perch Fi$hery
A Vital Economic Engine
by Martin Lowney – New York State Director, USDA-APHIS Wildlife Services

More than $122 million and 3,000 jobs lost. According to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture study, that's a conservative estimate of how much damage the double-crested cormorant has inflicted on the communities surrounding Oneida Lake. On the other side of the ledger, the same USDA research shows that for every dollar spent on cormorant harassment since 1998, as much as $48.37 has been returned to the local economy—saving as many as 5,000 jobs.

Oneida Lake fishing is much more than recreation. For area businesses and their employees, it's a vital part of the economy. Now, thanks to USDA economist Dr. Stephanie Shwiff, we can precisely measure the impact of anglers' spending habits, see how the proliferation of cormorants has hurt local businesses, and gauge the benefits of cormorant harassment. Many Oneida Lake anglers saw the lake's famous walleye and yellow perch fisheries fade during the 1990s and early 2000s. At the same time, the number of fishing licenses purchased in the four surrounding counties (Oswego, Oneida, Onondaga, and Madison) fell severely.

While many people noted a great fishery's decay, some forward thinkers asked,“How are our communities and jobs affected if fewer anglers fish Oneida Lake?” Anglers are eager spenders who play a crucial role in the local economy. When there are fewer fish to pursue, the likely result is less spending. Research has shown that an expanding double-crested cormorant population devastated Oneida Lake's walleye and yellow perch populations. At the peak of past fall migrations, seven tons of Oneida Lake fish were becoming bird food during many autumn weeks. As declining fish populations contributed to bad fishing, anglers and their spending declined. This resulted in substantial losses of jobs and revenue in the four-county area bordering the lake. Dr. Shwiff, an economist for USDA—Wildlife Services' National Wildlife Research Center, studies the dollars-and cents impact of wildlife. She recently analyzed and documented the effects of cormorants' predation and presented her findings at the Oneida Lake Association's annual meeting on April 30, 2008.

Dr. Shwiff began by measuring the drop in non-resident fishing license sales in Oneida, Oswego, Onondaga, and Madison Counties from 1990-1998, immediately following the decline of Oneida Lake's walleye population. She combined these findings with economic models for spending on lodging, food, fuel, bait and other necessities. As non-resident anglers chose to fish other lakes instead of Oneida, the region experienced substantial losses of revenue and jobs; Shwiff's work showed us exactly how much. Dr. Shwiff expressed her findings as a range: if only fifteen percent of non-resident anglers skipped their trips to Oneida because of cormorants, this cost the four-county area $122,372,000 and 3,284 jobs; if fifty percent of non-resident anglers stayed away from Oneida, the damage totaled $538,918,000 and 12,862 jobs.

Economists prefer conservative economic models to allow for other factors that may affect their analyses. This is why Shwiff's economic model for Oneida Lake only includes activities of non-resident anglers. Further, as people come to Central New York to fish not only Oneida, but also Lake Ontario and other lakes, Dr. Shwiff made the realistic assumption that between fifteen and fifty percent of all out-of-state anglers who bought a fishing license here also contributed to the Oneida Lake economy. Other reasons Dr. Shwiff considered only non-resident anglers are that their numbers are easy to count, and their spending creates a big “bang” for the local economy,bringing in wealth that was generated elsewhere. Obviously, thousands of Oswego, Oneida, Onondaga, and Madison County residents fish Oneida Lake, too. They buy their bait, gas, and food locally. It's easy to see that the impact of all anglers on the region's revenue and jobs is tremendous, and that conditions hurting fishing harm the economy as well. Fortunately, Dr. Shwiff has confirmed that there is a cost-effective solution. The Wildlife Services arm of USDA started its cormorant harassment program in 1998 at the request of New York State Department of Environmental Conservation; this has reduced the peak number of cormorants feeding on the lake from more than 2,000 per day to around 100. The program was expanded in 2003 to include spring and summer harassment, with the goal of limiting the number of cormorants on the lake to 100 at all times. The resultant drop in cormorants has helped the lake's walleye population and out-of-state anglers are returning to Oneida Lake. This has infused from $47,974,000 to $170,893,000 into the four-county area and saved 1,446 to 5,014 jobs!

The Wildlife Services' cormorant harassment program gives taxpayers an enviable “bang for their buck.” For every dollar spent on the program, our region receives between $13.58 and $48.37 in angling revenue. That's a tremendous cost-benefit ratio and positive economics in anybody's book. Funding for the program initially came from the State of New York, then from the federal government. Dr. Shwiff's research illustrates how these tax dollars have been invested wisely to save an important native fishery. The bottom line is easy to see: Several years ago, a few progressive thinkers in Central New York, led by the Oneida Lake Association's Board of Directors, viewed the lake's walleye and yellow perch fishing as an economic engine. As objective analyses show, these conservationists were right.

The cormorant hazing program's results clearly appear in this graph. Walleye numbers and license sales fell steeply during the 1990s as the birds became abundant. After the hazing program began, cormorant numbers dropped, the lake's walleye population rebounded, and non-resident license sales stabilized.

Oneida Lake Association Position on Native and Invasive Aquatic Vegetation

Adopted May 2008

The OLA recognizes the value of aquatic plants to the health and wellbeing of Oneida Lake and its ecosystem. The lake as we know it could not exist without aquatic vegetation. However, the OLA also recognizes that aquatic plants can cause problems to lake users, residents, and the
lake itself. These problems can generally be categorized into two groups: those caused by exotic, invasive, and introduced plants; or those caused by over abundant native plants.

Examples of exotic, introduced, and invasive plants causing problems in Oneida Lake are water chestnut and frogbit. The OLA endorses the elimination and/or control of these plants as it may be possible by any legal means. The goal is the control or elimination of these plants and the problems associated with them.

With regard to native vegetation, the OLA goal for management is more moderate, as there is great value in our native plants. The OLA supports the control of native vegetation that has become a problem in the lake, as when it causes impenetrable windrows or mats of vegetation that impede recreation and navigation, whether offshore or near-shore. The OLA specifically endorses the ability of individuals or groups to harvest native vegetation by legal means in the public waters adjacent to their property. The OLA goal for native plants in Oneida Lake is to
encourage mitigation of the problems they cause through a program of legal harvest, removal and composting. Legal harvest, which includes obtaining necessary permits, can be accomplished by hand pulling, raking, shading, and the use of mechanical weed harvesters. Concerned individuals and groups are encouraged to work with their municipalities to explore composting and other sensible options for disposing of weed matter.

ONEIDA LAKE'S CORMORANT PROBLEM:

OLA Directors Speak at Fish and Wildlife Hearings
by Jack Henke

The economic and ecological devastation caused by Oneida Lake's thriving cormorant colony was vividly discussed in testimony given by several of your OLA Directors at "scoping sessions" (public hearings) sponsored by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The sessions were held last May in Watertown and Syracuse.

OLA President William Schriever and Directors Tom Pierce, Kurt Snyder, Tony Buffa, and Jack Henke entered their comments and data into the Fish and Wildlife Service's official record. The Directors cited the following facts:

2. Cormorants are also responsible for severe reductions in our lake's yellow perch population. The number of adult perch hovers around 700,000--a fraction of its former self. In some years, the birds have consumed more than 200,000 perch that had reached age 2--a size at which they have an excellent chance of surviving to adulthood. The perch death toll from cormorant predation throughout the 1990's extends well into the millions.

3. Poor fishing has resulted from reduced walleye and perch populations. Poor fishing translates into economic losses. Marinas, motels, restaurants, and bait/tackle stores in the lake region have experienced economic hardships. The OLA submitted a detailed economic analysis of 15 marinas on Oneida Lake. This report documented nearly $1,000,000 lost every year to the area's economy because anglers had left these marinas. The report stressed that this loss is but a fraction of the total amount lost by the region because of the bad fishing brought on by cormorants' predation. The OLA gave the Fish and Wildlife Service several copies of this report.

4. The cormorant colonies on Wantry and Long Islands have destroyed much of those isles' vegetation. Wantry, in particular, bears the appearance of a "cormorant guano wasteland", and anyone approaching the islands from their downwind side had best be prepared for some memorable odors.

5. The Oneida Lake Association is committed to the cause of eliminating cormorant predation on the lake. The Association strongly believes in working through the legal channels of the Fish and Wildlife Service and condemns any vigilante efforts at harassing or harvesting cormorants.

The "comment period", during which evidence could be submitted to the Fish and Wildlife Service, ended in June. The agency is now in the process of collecting and synthesizing all the data and will prepare a "summary document" of all the material by September 1.

The agency has hired two biologists from the University of Wisconsin to prepare a report containing relevant biological data about cormorant predation. These biologists have contacted the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and its counterparts in other states. The biologists' findings will be combined with an analysis of the data received in the scoping sessions.

The Fish and Wildlife Service will then issue a preliminary Environmental Impact Statement (EIS, for short) by late fall. The EIS will recommend a method, or methods, to manage cormorant populations. There will be a 90 day "comment period", during which individuals and organizations can submit their thoughts about the EIS. Additional data, missed during the scoping sessions, can be added to the process here. The Oneida Lake Association will contribute input at this time, should it be displeased with the preliminary EIS.

After 90 days, the Fish and Wildlife Service will prepare a "final EIS". This report will constitute official agency policy concerning double crested cormorants. A management plan for the nation will be detailed here. The final EIS should be completed by the spring of 2001.

The Oneida Lake Association has voiced your concerns to the appropriate authorities in the cormorant issue. It will continue to do so--loudly and clearly.

This graph, produced by Cornell Field Station biologists, clearly shows their prediction for Oneida Lake's perch population if cormorants were eliminated (the "no cormorants line"). Perch numbers would soar from under 1,000,000 to 3,000,000 by 2010.

The other lines on the graph show the following:

"No harvest" means that anglers stop catching yellow perch, but cormorants continue to feed.

"No top predators" translates to stopping both angler and cormorant predation.

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Reprinted (with minor modifications) from The Oneida Lake Bulletin:  Summer, 2000.