“Vilified, condemned, outlawed and with a price on its head, the shag stands as the declared enemy of mankind. Its chief crime is that it has transgressed the law that any animal that comes into competition for food with man has no right to live, a crime that is held to deserve nothing less than indiscriminate persecution.” So wrote the ornithologist, WRB Oliver, in 1930 in a passionate protest against the bounty the Acclimatisation Societies, the forerunners of the Fish & Game Councils, paid for each shag killed. Between 1890 and 1940 many colonies were exterminated because it was thought they were eating trout. And even now, during the duck shooting season, they are still subject to persecution by hunters who do not realise they are now protected.
In New Zealand, all members of the Phalacrocoracidae are called shags, whereas elsewhere the term cormorant is used. The term shag seems to have come about in reference to the crest on the head of some species.
The black or great shag, is a cosmopolitan species and is distributed widely from eastern North America, Greenland, Iceland, across Europe and Asia, Africa and Australasia.
The great cormorant is the bird which since ancient times in China, were tamed and trained to catch and bring back fish to their owners, just as falcons were used to catch game in midair or on land. Sometimes they were completely domesticated, their eggs hatched under hens, and the young fed by hand on chopped eel and other fish. Training started when they were fully grown and feathered. One would be tied by a string to a stake at the water’s edge. At a whistle signal it was pushed into the water and tossed a bit of fish. Then, after a different whistle, it was pulled back and rewarded again. As soon as the bird got the idea, live fish were used. Then it was graduated to a boat or raft and a string tied around its neck so that it couldn’t swallow the fish it caught. With several of these trained birds, a Chinese fisherman was in business.
The Japanese also use the great cormorant for sport fishing and, in Elizabethan England, the Master of the Cormorants was a member of the royal household.
The literature tells me that shags here typically roost in flocks and breed in colonies on cliffs or rocky islets, or in trees overhanging water, sometimes together with other species of shags. They have an elaborate series of ritualized courtship displays at or near the nest, a bulky platform made of sticks seaweed. Both sexes share incubation and both parents regurgitate food for the chicks. If a predator approaches, chicks are good at jumping well before they can fly and are adept at climbing back into the nest.
In evaluating the impact of cormorants on fish populations, it is important to distinguish between perception and reality. The perception of most people upon seeing a flock of shags feeding is that they are eating valuable sport fish that would otherwise be available to recreational anglers. The reality — confirmed by several scientific investigations — is that in most natural situations they have a relatively minor impact on commercial or sport fish populations. A 1996 study conducted by Margaret Fowle of the University of Vermont revealed that small yellow perch, rather than more prized catches, make up over 80% of the cormorant diet of about a pound of fish per day.
According to Elsdon Best, Maori considered the shag to be the offspring of Terepunga. They were noted for their straight, unswerving flight and there are many sayings referring to this. They were not an important food supply but were occasionally eaten. Shaggeries in trees or on cliffs were visited to take the young before they could fly. These shaggeries were known by special names and were often given as evidence of occupation in the Land Court.
