Taking a bite out of the decline of fish population

Idaho Fish and Game has a plan to relocate pelicans, which is a critical part to the population decline that is having an impact on anglers.

The department has created a plastic fence to keep the pelicans out of an unusual nesting area in island park. IDFG said this will be a more natural way to decrease the growing pelican population, around southeastern Idaho.

“There was a point in time when waterfall populations were decreasing dramatically across the United States and so thanks to the efforts of the first Earth Day, people started to realize that they had to be smarter about the use of things like pesticides,” IDFG Regional Conservation Educator, Gregg Losinski said.

When this happened he said a lot of waterfall populations began to bounce back, as well as the white pelican population. The dramatic increase in pelicans was impacting the fish populations.

“We needed to come up with a way to preserve the pelican species but also reduce impact on our fish species as well,” Losinski said. “We have a sight that’s on private land that prior to 2012 was not a nesting site. So, what we’ve done is gone in there and build a fence in the water so that the pelicans cannot access the nesting habitat.”

The fencing is made of plastic coming out of the water. It will be high enough so that the pelicans cannot hop over it.

“Pelicans can’t land on land. They have to land on water and then walk on land to building a nest. So, if we keep them off this island, they won’t be able to build nests and lay eggs and therefore, we should have a slow-down, a little bit, in that population,” Losinski said. “It will limit their access to most, we did leave some area there, so that a certain number of birds could nest but that all the birds that want to nest, won’t have the space available.”

The longevity of this project is determined by the land owner because fencing is taking place on private land.

This is just part of a ten-year plan for the conservation of white pelicans in Idaho.

The full plan can be found here.

NOTE: B-roll in this video is credited to Gregg Losinski of Idaho Fish and Game.