I am strongly opposed to…

I am strongly opposed to this proposal. Culls are not effective conservation or wildlife management. This particular proposal is very problematic and ill-advised.

According to Gail Fraser, a biology professor at York University and expert on cormorants, “An open season on the cormorant is an open season on the loon”, as the two birds are commonly confused as they glide majestically across the water.

Experts like Fraser also note that the concern of anglers that cormorants deplete fish stocks is not supported by the science. According to the federal Canadian Wildlife Service, a cormorant’s diet consists of less than 2% of fish that anglers and commercial fisheries want.

A concern of many is the potential impact of hunting parties on one of the largest colonies on the Great Lakes located at Tommy Thompson Park on the Leslie Spit in Toronto. Peaceful Parks Coalition has noted that “As long as sport hunters remain in their boats, and do not step onto the shore, there is nothing restricting them from coming close enough to shoot nests from below, killing adults peacefully tending their young and the chicks. The enjoyment of Toronto Harbour will be reduced by the presence of gunshots and flying bullets and dead birds floating to shore.”

Peaceful Parks has also rightly noted that “double-crested Cormorant colonies contain several other colonial waterbird species such as Herring Gull, Ring-billed Gull, Common Tern, Caspian Tern, Black-crowned Night Herons, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, White Pelicans, who will also be disturbed during their breeding season by this hunting activity.”

This is just a bad idea all around. Please stop buying into the hate and fear of cormorants, or the idea that guns are the solution. Instead, please consider the information and perspective contained in this article (linked) by the Director of Animal Alliance Canada.