Eastern Wildlife Damage Control Conferences
Date of this Version
September 1989
Abstract
Eighty-seven percent of 281 Mississippi catfish farmers felt that fish-eating birds were enough of a problem to warrant harassment. Fanners estimated that they spent an average of 2.6 man-hours per day harassing birds at an average annual cost of $7400. Sixty percent of the farmers who harassed birds did so by driving around the ponds and firing at birds to repel them. Propane exploders and pyrotechnics were also used. Pyrotechnics were judged the most effective repellent technique. The cost of bird harassment according to these farmers is $2.1 million. The value of fish loss to cormorants alone is roughly estimated at $3.3 million. The total annual loss to birds is estimated at $5.4 million.