Conservation Evidence (2005) 2, 3-5 www.ConservationEvidence.com

Relocation of pygmy Phalacrocorax pygmeus using scare tactics to reduce conflict with fish farmers in the Bet She'an Valley,

Nemtzov S.C. Science Division, Israel Nature and Parks Authority, 3 Am Ve’Olamo Street, Jerusalem 95463, Israel

SUMMARY

To help resolve the conflict between pygmy cormorants Phalacrocorax pygmeus and fish farmers, the were scared away from Bet She’an Valley before the breeding season started. The cormorants have subsequently relocated to other, safer breeding sites.

BACKGROUND ACTION The pygmy Phalacrocorax pygmeus is a near-threatened (IUCN 2004) Inception of the management plan: The which was common in (what is now) Israel in project involved forming a pygmy cormorant the 19th century, mainly occuring as a management plan and was undertaken in wintering migrant but also a breeding species. cooperation with representatives of the fish However in the 20th century there was a farmers, the Ministry of Agriculture's decline and from 1960 to 1973 there were no Department of Fisheries, and representatives of observations in Israel at all. The decline was the Israel Nature and Parks Authority (INPA) primarily due to loss of wetland habitats e.g. at the local and federal level. The project was the draining of Lake Hula, and intense headed by Dr. S. Nemtzov, (wildlife ecologist, persecution by fish farmers. After this period Science Division of INPA, Jerusalem). The of absence, in 1974 pygmy cormorants were Society for the Protection of Nature (SPNI) - observed with a gradual increase in numbers Israel's major pro-wildlife NGO, was also and a few pairs breeding in the 1980s. In the initially involved but dropped out because of early 1990's they began nesting again around objections to the proposed methods to be Lake Kinneret (also known as the Sea of employed. Galilee and Lake Tiberias), southward to the Bet She'an Valley. Management concept: The idea was to dissuade pygmy cormorants from nesting in Pygmy cormorants usually begin to nest in the Bet She'an Valey by scaring them away early to mid-March in Israel, near sources of from the site (using non-lethal scaring tactics food. During this time their diet consists i.e. gas cannons and pyrotechnics) and in so mainly of small fish. Spring is also the time doing hopefully encourage them to take up when the fish farmers stock their large ponds residence and nest at Lake Kinneret with small fish. Increasing conflict arose approximately 20 km to the north. No birds between cormorants (using fish ponds as were to be physically captured or harmed feeding areas) and fish farmers, and in the Bet during this procedure and none were to be She'an Valley this reached its peak in April disturbed once the nesting season began in 1999 with the intentional destruction of a March. In other words, any individuals that did nesting colony by disgruntled farmers. return to the Bet She'an Valley to nest would Following this event, a concerted conservation not then be disturbed again. project was begun to try to safeguard the future of the cormorants whilst at the same time Cormorant scaring: Commencing in autumn endeavouring to resolve the conflict with fish 1999, and throughout the winter of 1999/2000, farmers. the pygmy cormorants were frightened away

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Pygmy Cormorant Nesting in Israel 180 and by early May 2002 pygmy cormorants had 160 Acre Valley Hula Valley still not begun nesting anywhere in Israel. In 140 Lake Kinneret area mid-May some cormorants established a small 120 Bet She'an Valley nesting colony in a nature reserve in the Bet 100 She'an Valley only 50 m from a fish farm, and within a few days, dozens of birds began to

Nests 80

60 earnestly build their nests there. The fish farmers insisted on having the colony removed 40 but the INPA decided not to disturb this colony 20 as nesting had already begun. On 29 May 0 2002, a fire destroyed the entire nature reserve 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 Nesting Year (spring) including the cormorant nesting colony.

Figure 1. Number of pygmy cormorant n ests at Acre Spring 2003: In spring 2003 there were no Valley (red), Hula Valley (blue), Lake Kinneret area pygmy cormorant nests in the Bet She'an (crème) and Bet She’an Valley (purple), 1998- 2004. Valley and almost all nesting was around Lake Kinneret. The number of nests increased greatly relative to the previous year. The from all roosting sites in the Bet She'an Valley project seemed to have achieved its goal of so that they would hopefully transfer encouraging birds to relocate and nest around themselves to Lake Kinneret, where it was Lake Kinneret. hoped they would remain and hopefully nest within the Bethsaida Nature Reserve. Summer-autumn 2003: Counts of the Harassment was permitted even within nature country-wide population of pygmy cormorants reserves in the Valley, but only until the end of through the summer of 2003 and into the February so as not to disturb other nesting winter of 2003/04 (Fig. 2) showed an increase species. in their numbers in many wetlands throughout

the country. In the winter of 2000/01 harassment at roosting sites in the Bet She'an Valley continued again, Spring 2004: In spring 2004 the number of with the intention to further reduce the number pygmy cormorants in Israel increased greatly nesting in the Valley in the spring of 2001. over all, and there was a large increase in the

number of nests around Lake Kinneret relative

to 2003. Also of note was the fact that in CONSEQUENCES spring 2004 pygmy cormorants started nesting

in the Acre Valley (some 50 km west of Lake Spring 2000: The initial attempts during the Kinneret), near the Mediterranean coast, for first winter to encourage birds to relocate the first time in many years. themselves, seemed to be relatively successful

as there were more birds and nests around

Lake Kinneret and fewer in the Bet She'an Valley (confined to a small nature reserve) than in the previous year (Fig. 1). The overall number of nests in 2000 was also similar to Pygmy Cormorant Counts in Israel that in the previous year, which supported the feeling that the population overall was not 1400

harmed by this rather radical action. 1200

Spring 2001: Following winter harassment in 1000

2000/01, there was further reduction in the 800 number of nests in the Bet She'an Valley and an increase around Lake Kinneret. For the first 600 time, pygmy cormorants started nesting in the 400 Hula Valley, too. A suspicious fire destroyed Individuals counted one of the nesting sites near Lake Kinneret in 200 July 2001 but this was at the end of the nesting 0 season, so no harm was done to the birds. 5/03 7/03 9/03 11/03 1/04 3/04 5/04 7/04 9/04 11/04 During the winter of 2001/02 harassment was Date of count again authorized.

Figure 2. Pygmy cormorant counts in Israel. Spring 2002: The winter ended relatively late,

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The situation in February 2005: The out of harms way e.g. around Lake Kinneret. cormorant population has increased greatly There is still controversy as to the advisability relative to previous years (Fig. 2) and birds of continuing to prevent the nesting of pygmy have spread to new areas e.g. the Acre Valley. cormorants in the Bet She'an Valley, a strategy As the spring of 2005 approaches, there are which may perhaps be extended to new areas calls from fish farmers to cull pygmy as the pygmy cormorant population increases cormorants before the population gets any and expands its range. larger, and also to prevent nesting in other areas of potential conflict. REFERENCES Conclusions : The reduction of conflict by encouraging 'self-translocation' did not appear IUCN (2004) 2004 IUCN Red List of to harm the cormorants and may have led to Threatened Species. greater numbers in the long term by www.iucn.org/themes/ssc/redlists/rlindex.h encouraging breeding in safer areas, the tm displaced birds finding alternative nesting sites

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