112 CORMORANTS AND THE GIPPSLAND LAKES FISHERY 
The Gobies are the chief food item for October and, as noted 
above, these small fishes were in spawn. Bream forms 138 
per cent, of the total. 
By the end of this month the birds were leaving for their 
breeding area. It is probable that some had previously gone 
and that their departure from the lakes takes place over a 
period similar to their return. I am informed that examples 
were so scarce as to be practically unprocurable during the 
next three months, and I can testify that in the course of a 
few days spent in a section of the area towards the end of 
January this year (1940), no single Large Black Cormorant 
was seen. 
From the foregoing results alone it will be evident that the 
depletion of some marketed fishes cannot legitimately be 
attributed even to the Large Black Cormorant, the most 
condemned of all species. 
During the period when the birds are present on the lakes 
in greatest numbers a large part of their food consists of 
Anchovy or Smig, Gobies, Sprat, and other small fishes. It 
should be noted that the marketed fishes included in the diet 
comprise both those of which the annual quantities have 
declined and those which in fact have increased. Of the two 
species which are outstanding in amounts marketed, the Lake 
Mullet occurs fairly commonly in the diet, while not one 
Salmon Trout was found in any stomach examined. It is 
possible that the latter species enters the lakes only at a late 
stage of maturity. 
Bream forms about 8 per cent, and Anchovy 25 per cent, 
of the grand total. 
Summary 
It is remarkable how frequently a particular kind of bird 
is named as a cause of the destruction of another group of 
animals or plants. Yet it must be admitted, although it is 
apparently seldom realised, that previous to settlement in a 
country such as Australia, both indigenous animals and plants 
were far more numerous and, what is more important, 
coexisted in perfect harmony since all are directly or 
indirectly interdependent. 
There is ample evidence that in the Gippsland Lakes area 
all forms of life, including Cormorants and fishes, were much 
more plentiful previous to widespread settlement than is the 
case to-day. Therefore the problem is not just a matter of 
what constitutes the Cormorants’ food, but of what has caused 
such obviously unbalanced conditions as seriously to reduce 
