Abstract

Besides various physiological and biological indices, stress in fish can be expressed directly by changes in their behaviour. Electrofishing point sampling approach based on CPUE (catch per unit effort) was used to evaluate fish density (escapement) into the littoral zones of four Czech ponds as a reaction to the occurrence and hunting activities of great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo sinensis) flocks. The behaviour of two-year-old common carp (Cyprinus carpio) before and after cormorant arrival was compared. Significant differences (P < 0.001) in CPUE were recorded in fish density before and after cormorant arrival on all of four ponds under study—Žofinský: 0.04 ± 0.18 and 22.38 ± 26.87 (mean ± SD), Starý Hospodař: 0.05 ± 0.29 and 25.49 ± 25.45, Žebrakov: 0.16 ± 0.57 and 28.58 ± 24.75 and Travicný: 0.03 ± 0.19 and 17.18 ± 18.20, respectively. The evaluation of fish wounding in the CPUE fish samples proved the proportion of fish injured by cormorant attacks ranging from 3.33 to 18.19% in the ponds under study.

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