Biologists are worried how a federal judge's decision to control double-crested cormorants will affect Lake Champlain and 24 eastern states.
The judge's decision in March found that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service didn't do its homework before issuing a pair of orders that opponents say allows people to kill up to 160,000 double-crested cormorants each year to protect sport fish in 24 states east of the Mississippi River.
Retired University of Vermont biologist Dave Capan says the birds nest in large numbers in late spring and early summer, killing trees on islands in the lake.
Vermont officials are worried even one year without cormorant control could allow the population of the birds to grow.
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