Anglers use huge quantities of groundbait to attract fish to fishing areas. Uneaten groundbait rots, causing pollution. Maggots are a common bait and some are contaminated with botulism and Salmonella, which are responsible for an increasing number of fatalities amongst wildfowl. Some killing of birds is intentional. Anglers argue that cormorants eat too many fish and that they should be shot.
Anglers believe that the fun they have angling is more important than the cormorants' right to live.
For years, anglers have been manipulating fish and fish populations to suit their preferences. For example, huge foreign fish are increasingly being bought from overseas to satisfy the anglers' desire to catch big fish. With these fish comes disease, and they threaten to wipe out endangered native fish as they compete with them for food and upset nature's delicate balance. For example, a while ago in the USA, seven demonstrators were arrested at Lake Downs, California, for demonstrating against a plan to poison all the pike in the lake. Sick officials from the Fish and Game Department poured 16,000 gallons of liquid and 60,000 pounds of powder into Lake Davis.