This seems to be a misguided…

This seems to be a misguided effort to placate anglers and property owners. The wording in the proposal is indicative: "There continues to be concerns expressed by some groups (commercial fishing industry, property owners)..." Concerns are fine, but there is no evidence base to support a need to cull cormorants. In fact, as described in the proposal, the latest information indicates that Great Lakes populations have stabilized or declined slightly. So the need for "population management" is not supported by the facts.

Moreover, the proposal to amend the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to allow hunters to let the carcasses spoil and the idea of a 50/day bag limit and no possession limit makes clear that this proposal is intended to facilitate a major cull of this species by hunters.

It would be preferable that in considering this proposal the Ministry paid more attention to science and less to uninformed opinion.