Wildlife Section PUBLIC…

Wildlife Section
PUBLIC INPUT COORDINATOR
Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Policy Division
Species Conservation Policy Branch
300 Water Street
Peterborough Ontario K9J 8M5
Phone: (705) 755-1940 Fax: (705) 755-2901

EBR Registry Number: 013-4124

This submission from Animal Alliance of Canada, Animal Protection Party of Canada and Earthroots is in opposition to the proposed “cormorant management plan” as laid out in EBR Registry Number 013-4124.

For more than 14 years, environmental and animal protection groups including Animal Alliance of Canada, Born Free USA, Zoocheck and Earthroots have been present for all the culls conducted on High Bluff Island, Presqu’ile Provincial Park and on Middle Island, Point Pelee National Park. They have been working to gain protections for cormorants.

Cormorants have been accused of water pollution, environmental destruction and decimation of fish populations. All of these claims are false.

Double-crested Cormorants are native Ontario birds that have repopulated parts of their former range and fulfill a valuable ecological role. Not only do they benefit biodiversity, their presence signals healthy fish populations. They are an integral component of Ontario’s natural heritage.

The Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry’s proposal under EBR Registry Number 013-4124 sets out one of the most regressive wildlife “management” decisions in Canadian history. The proposed changes are rooted in an irrational hatred for cormorants that will fuel their persecution and drive them back to the brink of extinction, or worse, in the province.

The Government’s proposal would:
• cause unimaginable cruelty by allowing the wholesale, uncontrolled, impossible to monitor, slaughter of cormorants across the province,
• devastate and very likely eradicate a recovered native wildlife species,
• result in disturbance, destruction and death of numerous federally protected non-target bird species such as Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and White Pelicans,
• irreparably damage natural ecosystems,
• encourage the worst form of “hunting,” and
• endanger the public by allowing hunters to discharge firearms throughout the spring, summer and fall season when lakes and natural areas are populated by cottagers and tourists.

Ontario government has no recent data on cormorant populations:

Persecution by humans and pesticide poisoning all but wiped out cormorants in Ontario on two previous occasions, the first through persecution and the second, pesticides. Since the ban on DDT, their population has rebounded. They are a recovery success.

The Government of Ontario says it is responding to concerns about too many cormorants, depleted fish stocks and environmental damage. But those concerns are anecdotal, complaints from a small, radical segment of the fishing community, and unsubstantiated claims that were debunked long ago.

The Ministry states, “To accompany the proposed hunting seasons, the Ministry will implement a cormorant monitoring program to assess population status and trends.”

However, the Minister has not conducted a Great Lakes cormorant survey since 2007 to 2009, 10 years prior to the current proposal. How can the Minister monitor population status and trends without knowing the current status of the Ontario cormorant population? This glaring lack of data is particularly troubling given that US surveys, conducted between 2005 and 2016 show a 36% decline in the population (F. Cuthbert and L. Wires, Unpublished Data, USFWS).

The Minister is proposing a full onslaught against cormorants in Ontario without knowing the status of the population and in the face of very troubling declines in cormorant numbers on the US side of the Great Lakes.

Ontario government has no data to support claims of depleted fish stocks

The reality is that cormorants are a natural part of Ontario’s rich biodiversity and an ecologically beneficial species, being major predators of invasive fish species like round gobies and alewives, attracting other waterbirds to their nesting sites, and serving other important functions in the ecosystems they inhabit.

For instance, an eighteen year review to the Total Allowable Catch (TAC) for Lake Erie Yellow Perch and Walleye, discredits the claims that cormorants are depleting fish stocks. The TAC for Yellow Perch in Lake Erie increased continuously between 2000 and 2006 (when cormorant populations were peaking) and remained at an average of 15.6 million pounds. In the same period of time, there were two years, 2000 (7.7 million pounds) and 2006 (9.9 million pounds) where the TAC for Walleye was the highest over the 18 year period and averaged at 4.7 million pounds.

Despite hosting the largest population of cormorants in North America, recreational fishing is alive and well at Tommy Thompson Park. As the web site states:

“There are many recreational fishing opportunities at Tommy Thompson Park (TTP). Aquatic habitat enhancements have improved conditions for coolwater fish in the Embayments, including successful Northern pike spawning channels. Habitat enhancements scheduled for Embayment D will improve warmwater fish habitat, as they have in the Cell One Wetland.” (tommythompsonpark.ca/park-species/fish/#recreational-fish).

The species of fish caught at TTP includes Northern Pike, Largemouth Bass, Yellow Perch, Black Crappie, Freshwater Drum, Brown Bullhead, and Lake Trout.

Ontario government is putting cormorants at risk of extinction in Ontario

Cormorants occupy only about 3% of island sites in the Great Lake but because they are conspicuous, nesting on exposed islands and peninsulas, they are particularly vulnerable, being easily targeted and killed. Small congregations could be wiped out in just a few minutes or an hour, while larger colonies could be destroyed in just a few days or a week. Years of effort and thousands of dollars to recover the species will have been for nothing.

Radical cormorant-haters have already attacked colonies under cover of night, destroying nests, stomping on chicks and killing adults. Once the proposed changes to the law come into effect, people will feel as though they have free rein to destroy as many cormorants as they want. It wouldn’t take many people very long to wipe out most cormorants in the province, leaving just a tiny remnant of their population in a few protected areas and driving them back to near extinction or even worse in Ontario is a real possibility.

Ontario is putting other colonial waterbirds at risk:

Other colonial waterbirds including Great Blue Herons (GBH), Black-crowned Night Herons (BCNH), Great Egrets (GE) and others preferentially nest with cormorants. Over a 10 year observation of the Middle Island waterbird colony, cormorants arrive first, followed by the herons and egrets.

They nest in close proximity to each other, increasing the risk of injury and death of non-target birds. In addition, nest abandonment for both cormorants and non-target birds is also a very real possibility causing suffering and death of the chicks and additional mortality to the 50 cormorants/hunter/day.

The question then becomes, what will the Ontario government do to ensure that federally protected birds that co-nest with cormorants do not become victims of the hunt?

Ontario government is ignoring successful non-lethal management of cormorants at Tommy Thompson Park:

The Toronto and Region Conservation Authority’s report titled, “MANAGEMENT OF DOUBLE-CRESTED CORMORANTS AT TOMMY THOMPSON PARK 2016 SUMMARY REPORT Restoration & Infrastructure February 2017 describes the area as follows:

“The site was designated as an Important Bird Area (IBA) in 2000 due to the globally significant numbers of colonial waterbirds under the general congregatory threshold, and nationally significant numbers of waterfowl during spring and fall migration as well as during winter depending on ice conditions (Wilson & Cheskey, 2001). Six species of colonial waterbirds breed regularly at Tommy Thompson Park (Figure 2). Three species are predominately tree-nesters, Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), Black-crowned Night-Heron (Nycticorax nycticorax) and Great Egret (Ardea alba); and three species are ground-nesters, Ring-billed Gull (Larus delawarensis), Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) and Common Tern (Sterna hirundo). Although there was no nesting from 2004 to 2011, Caspian Terns (Hydroprogne caspia) have been nesting on the ground at TTP since 2012.” (tommythompsonpark.ca/app/uploads/2018/03/TTPDCCO-Management-Report-2016.pdf)

The intent of the management strategy was to manage the TTP cormorant colony in the least invasive, non-lethal manner. The techniques include inactive nest removal, enhanced ground-nesting, pre-nesting and active deterrents, active nest removal, and post breeding deterrents. The strategy has been spectacularly successful.

One of the key management objectives was to limit tree loss throughout the park, a difficult goal given the yearly increase in the cormorant population. However, the TRCA made a commitment to try to encourage the cormorants to nest on the ground. In that regard, the management objective was achieved. By 2016, 76% of the cormorants were nesting on the ground thereby reducing impact on the tree canopy.

In addition, the TRCA has taken the opportunity to increase public awareness and appreciation for waterbird colonies and for cormorants in particular.

Conclusions:

We strongly urge you to:
1. withdraw this proposal; and
2. conduct an Ontario wide cormorant nest survey given that Ontario has not conducted a survey since 2009 and given that the US cormorant nest count which shows a 36% decline in the number of nests between 2005 and 2016.

Liz White, Director, Animal Alliance,

Amber Ellis, Executive Director, Earthroots