To the Ministry of…

To the Ministry of Environment:

I am writing to voice my objection to the proposal to allow hunting of double-crested cormorants. Here are my reasons why:

1. Cormorants are a native species which plays a significant role in the ecology of our lakes and rivers. Their recovery from the DDT disaster does mean they are overpopulated, rather it indicates their importance to our environment.

2. The proposal presents NO scientific evidence that the current cormorant population is damaging the fishing industry. In fact, the studies that have been done demonstrate that cormorants play a key role in limiting the population of invasive fish species in the Great Lakes, such as the Round Goby and the Alewife. Blaming cormorants without evidence is akin to the egregious claim that ending the Atlantic Coast seal hunt explained the collapse of cod stocks. The science does NOT demonstrate your claims.

3. The proposed hunting season extends for virtually the entire time cormorants are in Ontario, including their nesting season, which would endanger other species that nest with cormorants, including several species of gulls and herons. It would also prevent Ontarians, such as myself, from watching migratory birds or fishing on a lake or stream, due to the noise and the danger of random bullets. There are solid reasons why hunting seasons are virtually all limited to a few weeks in the fall.

4. The proposed limit is beyond belief. It would allow hunters to kill up to 14,600 birds a year. So many that a handful of aggressive hunters could push the cormorant back into endangered status within a few years.

5. Reclassifying the cormorant as a game bird also seems designed to facilitate mass killing, as if the purpose were a mass cull, not a sport. Game birds are those species which provide meat for hunters, and the cormorant is inedible.

Please reconsider this misguided proposal. I will be writing to the Minister and to my representative at Queen's Park to urge them to drop it.