CORMORANTS AND HUMAN INTERACTIONS - AN INTRODUCTION

This article introduces the special publication prepared for Colonial Waterbirds from the proceedings of the symposium ''The Double-crested Cormorant: Biology, Conservation and Management'' held as part of the Colonial Waterbird Society Annual Meeting at the University of Mississ ippi, Oxford, Mississippi, USA, 14-18 October 1992. The twenty-seven p apers presented fall into six subject categories-population history, p opulation dynamics, feeding ecology, fisheries and aquaculture, cormor ants and human interactions, management responsibility and future need s-and form four parts: ''The Bird and the Problem'' (three introductor y papers), ''Regional Distribution, Status, and Conflicts'' (19 papers ), ''Management Responsibility and Policy'' (three papers), and ''Conc lusions and Recommendations'' (two papers). Together, they provide a s mall first step at looking at problems associated with cormorants, the ir origins within cormorant ecology and population dynamics, and an ev aluation of the nature of problems where they occur, both in Mississip pi and in other aquacultural and natural systems, and what approaches can be taken to resolve them.