Cormorants deserve better…

Cormorants deserve better than this. How would you feel if you were accused of murder, with no evidence to prove it? This is what "some groups" are doing to these birds. While I am not saying they do not cause damage in some areas, I am saying that there should not be a province wide hunting law. I am saying this because how can it be proven that these bird cause the fish population to go down? These studies (which I have provided through links, and are peer reviewed) show that there is no proof that the number of cormorants affect the number of fish in a lake. What is not said in this proposal is how much the humans are hunting the fish. How do we not know that the humans aren't causing these low numbers in fish populations? Therefore I feel there should be hunting laws by area that ARE affected, with scientific evidence, because this provincial hunting law will make these birds endangered again. I want to be able to see some cormorants in Ontario when I grow older.

I would like the say that even the proposal is pure speculation, it is not based on scientific evidence. Just like many cases, this one proves correlation does not equal causation. Some of the areas with cormorants, have other endangered species. This will put those other species at risk. This proposal affects not only cormorants, but other birds. Also, if most of the cormorants in one area are hunted, the fish populations will go up (if it is not fished by humans). This will lead to less food for the fish, as most of it will be eaten when the population grows, in the body of water, killing a lot of fish. This also decreases the amount of oxygen and increases the amount of carbon dioxide in the water, leading to algal blooms (which kill a lot of fish, see link below). This shows that cormorants are important because it stabilizes the biodiversity.

Another problem with this proposal is that these birds can be left there to rot. The problem isn’t them rotting but the fact that most cormorants have a high amount of mercury in them. The carcasses will be eaten, bio-magnifying the mercury into other animals. It will also leach into the soil, then be taken up into the plants. These plants will be eaten by herbivores, then possibly hunted by humans and eaten.

All in all, I do agree they should be hunted. BUT do not do it the way that the proposal is saying. What could work is controlling the populations in specific areas, with a low limit. I worry that the numbers will rapidly go down and they will be back on the endangered list. The hunters will have to dispose of them when they hunt them instead of leaving them there to rot.