A Synopsis of the Final Environmental Impact Statement on Double-Crested Cormorant Management

Our presentation will provide an overview of the EIS process and will cover highlights of the Final EIS and management plan for double-crested cormorants prepared by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wildlife Services program of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service. It will also discuss the future of cormorant management in the U.S

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Final Environment Impact Statement: Double-crested Cormorant Management in the United States

Populations of Double-crested Cormorants have been increasing rapidly in many parts of the U.S. since the mid-1970s. This abundance has led to increased conflicts, both real and perceived, with various biological and socioeconomic resources, including recreational fisheries, other birds, vegetation, and hatchery and commercial aquaculture production. This document describes and evaluates six alternatives (including the proposed action) for the purposes of reducing conflicts associated with cormorants, enhancing the flexibility of natural resource agencies to deal with cormorant conflicts, and ensuring the long-term conservation of cormorant populations. There are four chapters that make up the critical components of an Environmental Impact Statement. Chapter 1, Purpose and Need, describes the purpose of and need for the action. Chapter 2, Alternatives, describes the six management alternatives that we considered: (1) Continue current cormorant management practices (No Action); (2) implement only nonlethal management techniques; (3) expand current cormorant damage management practices; (4) establish a new depredation order to address public resource conflicts (PROPOSED ACTION); (5) reduce regional cormorant populations; and (6) establish frameworks for a cormorant hunting season. Chapter 3, Affected Environment, introduces the reader to the environmental categories upon which the analysis of alternatives in chapter 4 is based: cormorant populations, fish, other birds, vegetation, Federally-listed Threatened and Endangered species, water quality and human health, economic impacts, fish hatcheries and environmental justice, property losses, and existence and aesthetic values. Chapter 4, Environmental Consequences, analyzes the predicted impacts of each alternative on the environmental categories outlined in chapter 3 and in comparison to the No Action alternative. The environmental analysis presented in Chapter 4 indicates that the PROPOSED ACTION: will cause the estimated take o

Cormorant Food Habit and Potential Impacts on Sport and Commercial Fisheries: An Annotated Bibliography

This list includes literature on the double-crested cormorant that contains: (1) qualitative or quantitative descriptions of food habits, or (2) qualitative or quantitative information on the impacts of cormorant predation on fish populations. The latter category includes papers that discuss the various bioenergetics variables that may be used in simulation models to assess impacts on prey populations

Status of Double-crested Cormorant \u3ci\u3ePhalacrocorax auritus\u3c/i\u3e research and management in North America

The Double-crested Cormorant, the most abundant of North America’s six cormorant species, has rebounded to high numbers after new extirpation in the 1960s and early 1970s. Enhanced environmental regulations and the availability of prey fishes facilitated the resurgence of Double-crested Cormorant populations by the mid-1970s and numbers have continued to increase steadily in most geographic regions through the present. The North American population of Double-crested Cormorants has been estimated at one to two million birds. Concerns about impacts of Double-crested Cormorants on aquacultural stock, sport fish populations, other birds, vegetation, private property, and local economies have been raised. Economic impacts to Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus aquaculture are the best documented population increase and the biological and sociopolitical importance of these various concerns, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, in cooperation with USDA/APHIS/Wildlife Services, will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement to consider the environmental impacts and effectiveness of various management alternatives for reducing human-cormorant conflicts. The Service intends to complete the final Environmental Impact Statement in early 2003

Management of double-crested cormorants to improve sport fi sheries in Michigan: three case studies

Impacts of double-crested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) to fisheries have been documented, but evaluation of the process and outcomes of cormorant management to reduce impacts on fisheries is lacking. We provide a synthesis of adaptive management of double-crested cormorants in the Les Cheneaux Islands (LCI), Brevoort Lake, and Drummond Island, Michigan from 2004 to 2007. The LCI management focused on reducing numbers of nesting cormorants in the region as a means of improving the yellow perch (Perca flavescens) population and fishery. At Brevoort Lake and Drummond Island, management focused on lethal and nonlethal harassment of spring migrating cormorants to reduce their foraging on spawning walleye (Sander vitreus) and yellow perch and to improve those fisheries and increase fish populations. At each location, management efforts reduced cormorant foraging, and fishery data indicated increased abundance of sport fi sh species. The 3 locations combined provided evidence for the underlying hypotheses that cormorants can influence mortality of local sport fish populations and that short-term management goals have been met. Continuation of adaptive management and monitoring programs will determine whether the improvement of targeted sport fisheries through cormorant management is sustainable

Cormorant Food Habit and Potential Impacts on Sport and Commercial Fisheries: An Annotated Bibliography

This list includes literature on the double-crested cormorant that contains: (1) qualitative or quantitative descriptions of food habits, or (2) qualitative or quantitative information on the impacts of cormorant predation on fish populations. The latter category includes papers that discuss the various bioenergetics variables that may be used in simulation models to assess impacts on prey populations

Effect of Antiplatelet Therapy on Survival and Organ Support–Free Days in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19

International audienc