The Government of Ontario is…

The Government of Ontario is setting the stage to make what is probably the worst, most regressive, wildlife management decision in Canadian history and one that will drive an important, ecologically beneficial native waterbird back to the brink of extinction, or worse, in the province.

A recent Environmental Registry of Ontario posting announced that the Government is seeking input on a proposed change to the province’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act that will:

▪ designate double-crested cormorants as a “game” species,
▪ create a provincewide annual hunting season from March 15 until Dec 31,
▪ allow anyone holding a valid Ontario Outdoors Card and small game hunting license to kill up to 50 cormorants per day (1,500 per month or more than 14,000 per season), including nesting parents and,
▪ allow the carcasses to spoil (i.e., rot).
The Government’s proposal would:

▪ allow the wholesale, uncontrolled, impossible to monitor, slaughter of cormorants across the province,
▪ devastate and possibly eradicate a recovered native wildlife species,
▪ cause damaging levels of disturbance and the destruction of numerous non-target bird species,
▪ irreparably damage natural ecosystems,
▪ encourage the worst form of “slob hunting,”
▪ endanger the public by allowing shooting throughout the summer season when lakes and natural areas are populated by Ontario residents and tourists.

The Government of Ontario says it is responding to concerns about too many cormorants, depleted fish stocks and environmental damage. But those concerns are largely just anecdotes, complaints from a small, radical segment of the fishing community, and unsubstantiated claims that were debunked long ago. There is no substantive body of evidence proving that cormorants are depleting fish stocks or causing any ecological problems whatsoever.

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.

Do not let this decision come to pass!