As many readers know, government agencies--primarily Ohio DNR, APHIS, and Ottawa NWR--have since 2006 cooperated in various sites around Ohio to control damage said to be caused by double-crested cormorants. Even though support of sport and commercial fishermen for lethal controls of cormorants is actively encouraged by several of these agencies, these agencies cannot prove cormorants are damaging the fishery, so alleged fish problems are mentioned in the controls, but are not targeted. The same goes for vague allegations that cormorants constitute a threat to airplanes, etc. The damage-control agencies have issued new documents to renew and continue their project, and today have announced a supplement to their project "Reducing Double-crested Cormorant Damage in Ohio." and the paperwork (and original documents) are available free by mail from USDA APHIS Wildlife Services, 6929 Americana Parkway, Reynoldsburg OH 43068 (ph. (614) 861-6087, or online at http://www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=APHIS-2013-0062 . See Public Notices in today's Cols Dispatch. The deadline for comments is 2 August. I have only skimmed the lengthy documents, but gather that a renewal of authority to continue damage control is requested, with some minor changes anticipated in the manner in which corpses of cormorants shot are composted and in methods of assessing vegetational changes. The most significant data are summaries of data reflecting on the efficacy of the depredation project 2006-present. I object to this whole lethal-control strategy, but won't rehearse that matter here. One new thing bothers me. Apparently the agencies involved in 2011 became aware of a small cormorant/great egret/great blue heron colony on an island in an inactive Columbus limestone quarry (local birders had known about it for five years by the time), and this area has been routinely added to lists of sites targeted for controls, which I presume include shooting as an alternative. For years now, it has been easy enough to ignore shooting cormorants at remote island sites in Lake Erie by wildlife personnel, but "control" of cormorants in a major city is less likely to go unnoticed or unquestioned. Lots of readers of this list will prefer to watch their feeders and work on their lists, but the actions of our government to justifiy killing native birds--you'd be surprised to learn how many species involved--are little-known and worth knowing at least a little about. Bill Whan Columbus ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]