{"id":3532,"date":"2021-08-30T17:47:59","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T17:47:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/?page_id=3532"},"modified":"2021-08-30T17:47:59","modified_gmt":"2021-08-30T17:47:59","slug":"pelican-damage-identification","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/?page_id=3532","title":{"rendered":"Pelican Damage Identification"},"content":{"rendered":"

Identification\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Biology\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0Damage ID<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Management<\/a>\u00a0| Resources<\/p>\n

Damage Identification<\/h2>\n

American\u00a0white\u00a0pelicans\u00a0reveal their presence by their large webbed tracks and guano-stained\u00a0(whitewashed)\u00a0landscapes.\u00a0Other than fish losses and the presence of\u00a0B.\u00a0damnificus<\/em>, direct\u00a0observation is the only way to determine if pelicans have been in an area.<\/p>\n

Fish losses at harvest,\u00a0the presence of B.\u00a0damnificus, and direct observation are the only ways to determine if pelicans have\u00a0foraged on aquaculture ponds.\u00a0Direct observation of pelican predation may not always be possible because pelicans will\u00a0forage at night,\u00a0especially on aquaculture facilities with active daytime harassment programs.<\/p>\n

Trampling of vegetation is characteristic of pelican damage\u00a0agricultural crops (e.g., rice).<\/p>\n

Damage to Livestock and Pets<\/h2>\n

American\u00a0white\u00a0pelicans\u00a0threaten\u00a0aquaculture producers by direct predation and disease transfer.\u00a0The impact of direct predation can be substantial. For example, assuming that\u00a0pelicans foraging in a catfish pond consumed exclusively catfish averaging\u00a010.2 inches, each bird would require 11 of these catfish to meet its energetic requirement of\u00a02\u00a0pounds per\u00a0day. This consumption rate would translate into 2,750 catfish consumed\u00a0per\u00a0day by an average-sized\u00a0flock of 250 pelicans. If these fish reached harvestable size of\u00a01.5\u00a0pounds\u00a0and were valued\u00a0at $0.70\u00a0per pound, catfish farmers could potentially lose approximately $2,900 from a single day of pelican foraging. Actual depredation losses would depend on pelican abundance at ponds, the size and number of catfish consumed, and the duration of pelican foraging at catfish ponds.\u00a0American\u00a0white\u00a0pelicans\u00a0also\u00a0kill vegetation on pond levees by trampling and guano deposition.<\/p>\n

Pelicans\u00a0are\u00a0one of the hosts of commercial catfish parasites, especially the digenetic\u00a0trematode\u00a0Bolbophorus<\/em>\u00a0damnificus<\/em>. This\u00a0trematode\u00a0has\u00a0caused\u00a0substantial economic losses to several aquaculture producers in Louisiana, northwest Mississippi, and southeast Arkansas.<\/p>\n

Although the economic impact of pelican foraging can be significant, the potential for pelicans to transmit\u00a0trematode\u00a0infections to catfish ponds can be more devastating. Whole ponds of catfish have died from\u00a0trematode\u00a0infections,\u00a0and little can be done to treat these infections.\u00a0Even mild infections of\u00a0B<\/em>.<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>damnificus<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>can result in\u00a0a more than\u00a060% reduction\u00a0of\u00a0net returns.\u00a0\u00a0A 2004\u00a0analysis of the economic impact of\u00a0trematode\u00a0infections to commercially raised catfish in Mississippi estimated economic losses of $27.1\u00a0million\u00a0per year.<\/p>\n

Damage to Landscapes<\/h2>\n

American\u00a0white\u00a0pelicans\u00a0can damage\u00a0recently planted crops such as rice\u00a0by\u00a0trampling\u00a0and\u00a0depositing\u00a0guano, although\u00a0the extent of these\u00a0losses\u00a0is\u00a0not known.<\/p>\n

Pelicans can be perceived as nuisance wildlife\u00a0by\u00a0aquaculturists and\u00a0sportsfishermen\u00a0by either predating farmed fish or consuming\u00a0sportsfish\u00a0prized by anglers.<\/p>\n

Health and Safety Concerns<\/h2>\n

Pelicans\u00a0are not known to transmit any significant diseases to humans.\u00a0Aircraft collisions have been documented.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Identification\u00a0|\u00a0Biology\u00a0|\u00a0Damage ID\u00a0|\u00a0Management\u00a0| Resources Damage Identification American\u00a0white\u00a0pelicans\u00a0reveal their presence by their large webbed tracks and guano-stained\u00a0(whitewashed)\u00a0landscapes.\u00a0Other than fish losses and the … Continue reading Pelican Damage Identification<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"parent":3523,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3532","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3532"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3532"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3532\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3533,"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3532\/revisions\/3533"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nwco.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}