Comment regarding EBR number…

Comment regarding EBR number 013-4124: Proposal to establish a hunting season for double-crested cormorants in Ontario

From the Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council

We, the Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council, are very worried about the great damage that would result from the proposal to establish a hunting season for double-crested cormorants in Ontario.

Breeding Birds
If the proposal permits a high bag limit, hunting from a stationary motorboat, and hunting during the breeding bird season, there will be severe problems. The non-target species, including protected species such as the common tern, could also lose their nests in the hunting process. Nestlings of all species would likely die of exposure and starvation. All these factors would give a highly negative face to this hunting practice and the public reaction to this cruelty would be strong and swift.

Allowing hunting from a motorboat during breeding season will encourage the disturbance of other colonial nesting bird species, including black-crowned night herons, herring gulls, common terns, Caspian terns, ring-billed gulls, great blue herons and great egrets, which are protected under the migratory birds act. Such disturbance will cause reduced parental care and possible colony desertions of any of these species.

Therefore, the nesting birds and nestlings of many species would be adversely affected by this action, perhaps for many generations.

Invasive Species Control
In the current ecological system, cormorants are the top predator in the new regime. They help limit prey populations and help balance the food web. With the presence of cormorants, the system is now more stable. They help keep some invasive species populations in check.

Note this 2016 study on Lake Michigan: (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0380133015002750)
Madura and Jones found that “Invasive species, most notably alewife, round goby, and white perch, contributed over 80% and 90% of the diet of cormorants by biomass and number, respectively.” The study concluded that its “results do not support the active management of the cormorants … to protect or recover local fisheries.” Madura, P.T., Jones, H.P. (2016). Invasive species sustain double-crested cormorants in southern Lake Michigan. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 42(2), 413-420.

If invasive species are allowed to increase, the effects on fisheries and biodiversity in the Great Lakes could be very damaging. The double-crested cormorant is ecologically important to the Great Lakes. Preservation of the cormorant and other shoreline species is imperative.

Note this 2003 study in Hamilton Harbour:
(http://www.reabic.net/publ/Somers_et%20al_2003_Neogobius%20melanostomus…)
“The cormorant population has stabilized in the Great Lakes and complaints about cormorants by fishers are unsubstantiated. Cormorants do not appear to take significant fish stocks, whereas humans do. I and my students have found that the vast majority of prey fed to cormorant chicks are alewife and the exotic
invasive round goby (both are not native to the Great Lakes).” Somers, C.M., Lozer, M., Kjoss, V.A., Quinn, J.S. (2003). The Invasive Round Goby (Neogobius melanostomus) in the Diet of Nestling Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) in Hamilton Harbour, Lake Ontario. Journal of Great
Lakes Research, 29(3):392–399.

The double-crested cormorant is a scapegoat deflecting blame from human overfishing. By culling a stable population, this policy will simply speed up the rates of reproduction as density-dependent limits are reduced.

Effects on Tourism and Recreation
The unorganized shooting encouraged by the proposal is a potential danger to all users of the lakes and islands, including sailors and kayakers. Another problem will be the numbers of dead birds washing up on beaches during the swimming season.

Recommendation
We highly recommend that this new proposal either be ruled out OR changed to a controlled hunt with specific restrictions to protect the ecological systems of the Great Lakes. Most efforts by humans to manipulate natural systems on a large scale cause unexpected consequences and usually make the situation worse.

About the Council
The Lennox and Addington Stewardship Council was established in 1995 to work with local groups and individuals in our county to foster healthy stewardship practices in the community. We work with schools, community/environmental interest groups, and landowners improving habitat, educating landowners, restoring shorelines, and more. In 2008, we incorporated as a non-profit organization.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit our comments.