The relationship between the abundance of smallmouth bass and double-crested cormorants in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario

Abstract Available population and diet data on double-crested cormorant ( Phalacrocorax auritus ) and smallmouth bass ( Micropterus dolomieui ) numbers, demographics, and exploitation rates were synthesized to examine the relationship between cormorant and smallmouth bass abundance in the U.S. waters of the eastern basin of Lake Ontario. It was found that after the number of cormorants nesting on Little Galloo Island in New York exceeded 3,500 pairs in 1989, survival of young smallmouth bass, not yet of legal size for the sport harvest (