Editing Pelican (section)

===Culling and disturbance===
Pelicans have been persecuted by humans for their perceived competition for fish, despite the fact that their diet overlaps little with fish caught by people.<ref name=Keith05/> Starting in the 1880s, American white pelicans were clubbed and shot, their eggs and young were deliberately destroyed, and their feeding and nesting sites were degraded by water management schemes and wetland drainage.<ref name=Keith05/> Even in the 21st century, an increase in the population of American white pelicans in southeastern Idaho in the US was seen to threaten the recreational [[cutthroat trout]] fishery there, leading to official attempts to reduce pelican numbers through systematic harassment and [[culling]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Management of American White Pelicans in Idaho. A Five-year Plan (2009–2013) to Balance American White Pelican and Native Cutthroat Trout Conservation Needs and Manage Impacts to Recreational Fisheries in Southeast Idaho |author=Wackenhut, M. |date=17 August 2009 |publisher=Idaho Fish & Game |url=http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/wildlife/planPelican.pdf |access-date=21 July 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120824035950/http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/public/wildlife/planPelican.pdf |archive-date=24 August 2012 }}</ref>

Great white pelicans on Dyer Island, in the Western Cape region of South Africa, were culled during the 19th century because their predation of the eggs and chicks of [[guano]]-producing seabirds was seen to threaten the livelihood of the guano collectors.<ref name=esr/> More recently, such predation at South African seabird colonies has impacted on the conservation of threatened seabird populations, especially crowned cormorants, Cape cormorants, and [[bank cormorant]]s. This has led to suggestions that pelican numbers should be controlled at vulnerable colonies.<ref name=esr/>

Apart from [[habitat destruction]] and deliberate, targeted persecution, pelicans are vulnerable to disturbance at their breeding colonies by birdwatchers, photographers, and other curious visitors. Human presence alone can cause the birds to accidentally displace or destroy their eggs, leave hatchlings exposed to predators and adverse weather, or even abandon their colonies completely.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/project/Projects/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.showFile&rep=file&fil=CodeofPractice.pdf |title= Code of Practice for the Protection of the Dalmatian Pelican |access-date=3 August 2012 |work=Information leaflet |publisher=Life Natura Program}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://blogs.mprnews.org/statewide/2012/05/loving_em_to_death/ |title=Loving 'em to death |access-date=14 February 2017 |work=Statewide |first=Dan |last=Gunderson |publisher=MPR News |date=16 May 2012 }}</ref><ref name="cfgc07">{{cite book |title=Status Review of California Brown Pelican |author1=Burkett, Esther |author2=Logsdon, Randi J. |author3=Fien, Kristi M. |year=2007 |series=California Fish and Game Commission Reports |publisher=U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Planning and Evaluation |url=http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/publications/docs/BRPEStatusReviewJan0308.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111220103002/http://www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/publications/docs/BRPEStatusReviewJan0308.pdf |archive-date=20 December 2011 }}</ref>