WS coordinated a cooperative cormorant 

 roost-dispersal program across the primary 

 catfish production region of the Mississippi 

 Delta designed to reduce cormorant depreda- 

 tion at catfish farms. Beginning in November, 

 several hundred aquaculture producers, 

 Federal and State employees, sportsmen, and 

 interested citizens participated in monitoring 

 and dispersing cormorants from 75 night 

 roosts near fish production areas. This 

 nonlethal management strategy, developed by 

 WS and used successfully for the past several 

 years, has been effective in reducing damage 

 and is well accepted by producers. Cormorant 

 populations were reduced in the region by as 

 much as 75 percent. 



WS took a proactive role when a trematode 

 parasite surfaced at several catfish farms in 

 Louisiana. Transmitted to commercial catfish 

 stocks by white pelicans, the parasite weakens 

 the immune system of infected fish. WS 

 promoted research to answer management 

 questions and assisted in bird collections and 

 surveys to determine the extent of the problem. 

 Studies on parasitic trematodes in white 

 pelicans have now been elevated to priority 

 status by aquaculture researchers in Missis- 

 sippi, Louisiana, North Dakota, and Arkansas. 

 WS also provided personnel to band pelicans 

 in North Dakota as part of an ongoing NWRC 

 study to investigate the impact of white 

 pelicans on the commercial catfish industry. 



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