Cormorant Reporting Survey

[Lotalota]

Please consider using the Cormorant Reporting Survey NY Sea Grant launched this summer (links below, and at www.nyseagrant.org/cormorant). Our goal was to create a tool that allows users to submit observations of double-crested cormorants and their impacts across New York State. From this study we're hoping to:

 

1. Collect standardized observations and images of cormorants and their impacts to share with municipal leaders, state and federal agencies, and other relevant partners.

 

2. Provide stakeholders with a user-friendly way to document their concerns and share observations in real-time.

 

3. Identify broad trends in observations and impacts (e.g. regional hotspots, impacts on businesses and infrastructure, compile imagery depicting habitat impacts, etc.). 

 

NYS Cormorant Reporting: This link will take you to the survey. There's no limit to the number of observations you can share, so you can make reports in your home port and when you're visiting other locations in NYS.

Observation Viewer: This viewer allows you to see observations folks are making in real-time. You can even view photos that are shared.

 

Thanks for your help! If you have any questions, contact Stacy Furgal at [email protected]

[HB2]

Just shoot the GD things already . 

 

Voice your concerns ? Give me a break . 

[Lotalota]

@HB2 If the only other (legal) option is doing nothing, I’m hopeful this is at least a baby step forward. Gotta start somewhere! 

[HB2]

Start somewhere? 

 

This has been going on for over 30 years and is and has been a real problem . 

 

More BS Gov crap to throw money at when  the solution is and has been pretty obvious for years .

 

How about this . 2 week open season on the flying rats and see what happens . My guess is it would sound like fourt of July along the lake shore  .

 

I gave up hunting but even I would get my 12 gauge out for this . 

[Silver Fox]

If I were to report everytime I seen them, I’d get nothing done. Hell, I drove over Ibay this morning at about 7am and a few hundred flew over heading for breakfast….

[UNREEL]

Sen. Ted Cruz introduces legislation to hunt cormorants!

“Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Katie Britt have introduced the Responsible Cormorant Management and Control Act of 2026, legislation aimed at giving states and other eligible managers more tools to control double crested cormorants. The bill would require the Interior Department to establish regional management frameworks for cormorant take while keeping populations at sustainable levels. 

And hunting could become part of that management. The bill specifically directs the Interior Department to examine the feasibility of issuing licenses to hunt double crested cormorants. It also identifies state licensed lake and pond managers as potential entities authorized to take the birds. The legislation comes amid concerns about cormorant impacts on fisheries, aquaculture and private waters. 

This does not immediately create a nationwide cormorant hunting season. Instead, it would establish a framework for managing the birds and require Interior to report to Congress on the feasibility of licensed hunting. A House companion has also been introduced by Rep. Tim Walberg of Michigan. “

Aaron B. Futrell, Author, The Deer Stand Devotional

The Sportsmen Party

[UNREEL]

18 hours ago, Silver Fox said:

If I were to report everytime I seen them, I’d get nothing done. Hell, I drove over Ibay this morning at about 7am and a few hundred flew over heading for breakfast….

A few pics from I-Bay yesterday

[GAMBLER]

There was a group of cormorants on the pond at Hickory Ridge campground in Holley this weekend.  It's a 10 acre pond..........

[Kingfisher06]

Asking us to do surveys at this point feels like joke. I honestly believe ya'll are sitting around a table laughing while coming up with this idea to have the public report sitings. Like an internet troll who can't wait to hear the confused and frustrated response.  

[Lotalota]

On 9/24/2026 at 6:08 AM, HB2 said:

Start somewhere? 

 

This has been going on for over 30 years and is and has been a real problem . 

 

More BS Gov crap to throw money at when  the solution is and has been pretty obvious for years .

 

How about this . 2 week open season on the flying rats and see what happens . My guess is it would sound like fourt of July along the lake shore  .

 

I gave up hunting but even I would get my 12 gauge out for this . 

I get the frustration. This survey cost $0 to make, just the time spent developing it. Though it’s been an issue for ages, we have limited real data, so we’re using the survey as a first step. For those in leadership that have never seen images of the impacts cormorants are causing, this tool is extremely useful for compiling geolocated pictures to help tell the story. 

[Lotalota]

2 hours ago, Kingfisher06 said:

Asking us to do surveys at this point feels like joke. I honestly believe ya'll are sitting around a table laughing while coming up with this idea to have the public report sitings. Like an internet troll who can't wait to hear the confused and frustrated response.  

I hear you, but if the alternative is doing nothing or just typing about the problem, I like a more proactive approach. No one has ever done a similar effort like this for cormorants in NY. A small step forward is still progress. Someone in local government (Town of Huron) asked for this information, so there are folks out there that want to know and see what cormorant related impacts their residents are experiencing. 

[Kingfisher06]

E-bird has over 9.6 million observations paired with 227600 photos from avid birders. I'd have to imagine Cornell, who runs E-bird, could glean enough information from that dataset to appease someone in the local government of Huron. I don't use E-bird, but I know some avid birders and I am pretty sure all their lists are geo-located one way or another. Waiting for Joe Smo's pictures of cormorants roosting in his willow tree to come in isn't my idea of proactive.  

[Lotalota]

@Kingfisher06 very true. Though E-bird is not focused on documenting impacts paired with observations, just observations. We’re hoping this survey will get data from birders AND non-birders (anglers, coastal residents, etc). 

[GAMBLER]

I reported the ones I saw.  It took a minute.  IF you want them gone, why wouldn't you do it?  Sitting here complaining about it took more time than it would to document them.  

[Kingfisher06]

Yeah Gambler, your pics of them sitting on a pond where 20 E-Birders have already documented them is going to push this through the finish line, good job. The distribution is well documented, what their roosts degrade into, well documented, their appetites, well documented. Extrapolate trends from birders who document themselves very well and the job is already well done. The public and especially affected landowners have already cried out for help with documentation. 

[GAMBLER]

Just now, Kingfisher06 said:

Yeah Gambler, your pics of them sitting on a pond where 20 E-Birders have already documented them is going to push this through the finish line, good job. The distribution is well documented, what their roosts degrade into, well documented, their appetites, well documented. Extrapolate trends from birders who document themselves very well and the job is already well done. The public and especially affected landowners have already cried out for help with documentation. 

When dealing with state agencies, you have to prove it's a problem until you are blue in the face.  I'm happy to see there is finally movement on a push to get legislation in place to do something about the problem.  If I have to take a minute to report them and it helps, I will gladly help.  I will also get my duck stamp and take up cormorant hunting if they make a season for them.  For cormorants to be showing up where I saw them shows there is a real problem.