I strongly disagree with the…

I strongly disagree with the proposal to establish a hunting season for double-crested cormorants. In my view, this boils down to a cull. The return of these birds is a success story; it is a sign that we have reduced some toxic chemicals in our aquatic ecosystems, a sign that SHOULD make anglers and swimmers happier, you would think. I doubt these creatures are edible, so a hunting season would be a misnomer; my apologies if I am incorrect. I am a fisher not a hunter. People who support such a season, and who haven't considered the effects of human activities on water quality, shoreline health etc, indeed have their heads in the sand (possibly in the sand that they had delivered to make a beach over their once vegetated shoreline). I have seen results of small scale culls in the Eastern Lake Ontario area and the sight was not pretty: injured and flopping birds scattered across an island. I believe we should work on using and developing more innovative and less destructive methods of deterring or controlling numbers of cormorants, if this reduction in numbers is absolutely necessary. Thank you for the opportunity to comment!