Mem. Nat. Mus. Vict., 12, 1941. 
CORMORANTS AND THE GIPPSLAND LAKES 
FISHERY. 
By George Mach, 
Ornithologist, National Museum of Victoria. 
Figs. 1-15. 
In all parts of Australia Cormorants or Shags are con- 
demned out of hand as pests. They are constantly harried, 
shoots are organized, and there is even a body of people in 
Melbourne whose purpose is the “sport” of organized killing 
of these birds. Being gregarious, the Cormorant is an easy 
mark when the guns are numerous, particularly so during 
the breeding season when adults with eggs or young in the 
nest must return to the rookery. AU this because the Cor- 
morant naturally seeks its food from river, estuary, lake and 
sea, where it and its kind have obtained their food for 
countless thousands of years. 
It is usual, unfortunately, when matters go wrong, as when 
there is a diminution in a natural product, to attribute the 
damage to a handy culprit or supposed cause, rather than to 
ascertain the actual cause and take suitable action. When 
the commercial fishermen of the Gippsland Lakes found that 
the quantity of marketable fishes was decreasing, some of 
them saw in the presence of Cormorants the cause of 
their impoverishment; not a surprising conclusion, perhaps, 
when it is remembered that fishing is these men’s livelihood, 
and they felt impelled, without guidance, to name a cause of 
their loss. 
In 1938, at the request of the Department of Fisheries and 
Game, Victoria, it was arranged that I should endeavour to 
investigate the relationship of Cormorants to the fishery by 
an examination of stomach contents. The resident inspector 
of the Department at Bairnsdale (Mr. T. G. Yates) was 
assigned the work of obtaining the necessary specimens and 
I instructed him in methods of dissecting, sexing and trans- 
porting the material. As the collecting of the birds had to 
be done by the inspector in addition to his normal duties, 
which are varied and erratic as to time, he was unable to 
obtain as much material as I would have liked, but bearing 
in mind the difficulties of constant collecting and the un- 
attractive nature of the work, to Mr. Yates and those local 
residents who helped him on occasion much credit and thanks 
are due. 
Records of the annual number of men and boats employed 
95 
H 
