The chinese cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Blumenbach 1798, an alien bird by Christer Olburs 2008-10-15 The chinese cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Blumenbach 1798, an alien bird - An attempt to understand a complex biological question by Christer Olburs, 15/10/2008 This is an English translation of the essay “Den kinesiska skarven Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Blumenbach 1798, en främmande fågel” by Christer Olburs 20081015. The translation by Snabboversattare.se was financed by Lennart Ericsson and approved by Christer Olburs on 16/12/2009 The chinese cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Blumenbach 1798, an alien bird by Christer Olburs 2008-10-15 To Sven, Esbjörn and Curt The chinese cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Blumenbach 1798, an alien bird by Christer Olburs 2008-10-15 Contents 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................4 2. A few biological concepts and units ..................................................................................6 One method: What? Where? and When? ...............................................................................7 3. “The Great Cormorant’s” systematics, taxonomy and nomenclature.................................9 Modern Great Cormorant systematics ....................................................................................9 Comments ..............................................................................................................................11 4. A few details and contributions to the debate on the cormorant in Sweden after 1990 ....12 Comments ..............................................................................................................................20 5. The distribution history of P.c. sinensis in Sweden based on subfossils .......................... 21 Comments ..............................................................................................................................23 6. Distribution and development of P.c. sinensis in Europe .................................................24 Comments ..............................................................................................................................30 7. Older details on cormorant breeding in Sweden and The Nordic countries .....................31 A few details on the word cormorant ....................................................................................47 Comments ..............................................................................................................................48 7. The cormorant in service to the human being ...................................................................50 Comments ..............................................................................................................................54 8. Introgression and hybridisation .........................................................................................56 Comments ..............................................................................................................................61 9. Indigenous or alien, naturally occurring or introduced .....................................................62 What is alien? ........................................................................................................................62 Where is an organism alien? .................................................................................................63 Where is an organism indigenous or alien? ..........................................................................64 One example of the handling of an alien introduced organism ............................................64 Comments .............................................................................................................................65 10. The cormorant in the EU’s rules and regulations ...........................................................66 Comments .............................................................................................................................67 11. A few pan-European cormorant projects ........................................................................68 Comments .............................................................................................................................73 12. Discussion, conclusions and proposals for measures .....................................................74 Discussion ............................................................................................................................74 The distribution history of P.c. sinensis in Europe and Sweden, a synopsis ........................75 Conclusions ..........................................................................................................................76 A few proposals for measures ..............................................................................................76 A few final words..................................................................................................................77 The chinese cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Blumenbach 1798, an alien bird by Christer Olburs 2008-10-15 1. Introduction Few animals arouse such strong feelings as the cormorant and the “cormorant issue” is one of the last century’s most hotly-debated environmental policy issues in Sweden and other parts of Europe. No other issue, with the possible exception of the “wolf issue”, has so sharply divided the population into two categories, cormorant lovers and cormorant haters. The dividing line also separates a united establishment of authorities, environmental organisations and researchers on the one hand and a coastal and rural population, fishermen, hunters and many others who actively make use of nature on the other. The cormorant lovers maintain that the cormorant is a natural part of the Swedish and European fauna that, at last, has returned to its original breeding areas after a long period of persecution. The incredibly fast expansion of the cormorant numbers is explained by “water eutrophication” and the cormorant’s effect on the fish stocks is toned down. Usually moderate environmental debaters use expressions like “chavs of the animal kingdom” to highlight the prejudice of the cormorant haters. The cormorant haters emphasise the reduction in fish stocks and ruined fishing, dirty skerries and spoiled islands plus a generally unpleasant, reptile-like appearance. Some have also maintained that “The cormorant is the reason for both lack of fish fry and the cause of algal bloom in the Baltic Sea” and that the cormorant was artificially introduced into Sweden. The cormorant haters suspect a conspiracy and blame most of the coastal and freshwater fishing problems on the cormorant and a large number of proposals requiring different measures against the cormorant have been submitted to the Swedish Parliament from all parties except for the Green Party. Similar cormorant debates are held in most of the countries in North-Western Europe; in Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. There is also a similar cormorant debate on the Double Crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus ) in North America. For those who are interested in nature and birds and have seen the great interplay between human and cormorant in several films on fishing with cormorants in China, it can be difficult to understand the strong feelings surrounding the cormorant in the environmental policy debate. The explosive increase of the cormorant numbers throughout North-Western Europe has few equivalents in the bird world. In 1999 , the Swedish Ornithological Society (SOF) made an inventory of the Swedish numbers of: The Great Cormorant (race: Lesser Great Cormorant) and found 26 000 pairs. A new inventory made by the SOF in 2006 showed around 45 000 pairs and is the highest figure taken thus far for any country in Western Europe. The increase is a part of one of the ongoing re-establishment from numbers that were previously decimated by humans. The expansion is also explained by improved feeding conditions linked to eutrophication, the establishment of fish breeding and fishponds around Europe. A long- term warmer climate may also be assumed to promote the survival possibilities and distribution of cormorants. The above quote principally summarises the current picture of the cormorant issue that is presented by “the cormorant lovers”. 4 The chinese cormorant Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis Blumenbach 1798, an alien bird by Christer Olburs 2008-10-15 The environmental and politically correct attitude is obviously “for the cormorant” and to be happy about its “return”. However, is the attitude scientifically correct ; is it supported by the facts of the case? Since a largely unified environment and scientific establishment is on the side of the cormorant lovers, the answer should be obvious. However biology is a very complex science and assessments often have to take place on a very limited and sometimes difficult-to- interpret factual basis, and there are still some uncertainties in the cormorant issue. There is a considerable risk of carrying out erroneous assessments based on inadequately supported facts and the biological, economic and political consequences can be very negative and lead to a marked loss of trust in authorities and researchers. “The cormorant” should be one of the most studied birds and there are huge quantities of published material on “the cormorant”, spanning a large