By John Bertleson Jr., Lake Iola Lake District

As Chairman of the Lake Iola Lake District, I do have an obligation to learn the regulations and assist in any investigation that comes our way when something illegal like this happens. I knew we had an injured pelican left over from the flock that was on the pond feeding this spring, but I did not learn it had been shot until REGI examined it after rescue by the Loon Rescue group this past Saturday. DNR Warden Jon Kaiser has been notified and is looking for more information. I know some people are not happy to see the pelicans feeding on the fish in the spring, but illegally shooting at them endangers both the birds and possibly people using the pond at the time too.

I reached out to Warden Kaiser for a statement as well as others in the DNR for more information on the impact of Pelican feeding on our fish population. Here are a couple responses …

From Warden Kaiser …

Good morning John,

Thank you again for running with this and your assistance! I reached out to REGI yesterday and will be working with them to get more information on the situation for any possible follow up.

That being said, please feel free to add my and the WDNR hotline’s contact information to your release, reminding everyone of your exact thoughts – Pelicans do eat fish but not to an extent that it would likely impact a fishery notably as well as they are a protected species with this incident leaving a live animal to suffer. Any information on the incident can be forwarded to our Hotline and/or myself for follow-up as possible and we appreciate the community’s assistance with this as always!

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Talk to you soon,

Jonathan J. Kaiser

Conservation Warden – Waupaca

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

Here is some information from DNR District Ecologist Josh Martinez …

Hello All,

This situation with the human caused injury to this individual pelican was not necessary and hopefully someone comes forward with information for our law enforcement staff to follow up on. As for Pelicans and their impact to a fishery. Pelicans are opportunistic feeders and work together in flocks for feeding, especially in shallow waters. They will take advantage of easy to capture prey items, particularly small fish (bait fish) and if there are large schools of game fish early in the season. Once submerged aquatic vegetation develops in the summer, feeding by pelicans is much harder and they tend to leave the lake or change their diet to other fish species. Now there are always areas of limited submerged aquatic vegetation, especially on mill ponds with weed harvesting, which then makes feeding possible again for pelicans. One project I was involved with on the bay of Green Bay was able to document this change in diet of fish assemblages throughout the summer months to reflect the changes in available fish resources.

Spring time is a hard time or fish species due to the minimal cover of vegetation and their habits with spawning making them easy targets for all predators. Pelicans are only one of the predators on the landscape and meaning they are not the sole species that can reduce a fishery. Habitat restoration and management is a critical part of fisheries management that often overlooked because it is something many lake users do not see compared to the presence of predators like pelicans.

Thanks,

Josh

Joshua Martinez

District Ecologist – Bureau of Natural Heritage Conservation

I have also reached out to Mike Jones of APHIS to see what we can do to encourage the birds to move on sooner next spring. Mike is the person from the USDA who I work with on Canadian Goose population control on our pond.

Regards,

John Bertelson Jr.

Chairman, Lake Iola Lake Protection and Rehabilitation District