As a Ontario fishing tackle…

As a Ontario fishing tackle manufacture, that specializes in Great Lakes trolling, the impact of bait populations has a direct correlation with the amount of anglers participation, which in turn affects our bottom line. When the Great Lakes were full of bait, there were lineups at the launch ramps of anglers preparing to fish for the prized salmon. As the water became clearer, due to envasive species, the comorants were able to hunt deeper into the lake and consume more alewife bait, the main food source for salmon. As a result in Lake Huron the alewife population crashed and the salmon population crashed as well, destroying a fantastic fishery. This had a great impact on businesses along Lake Huron and Georgian Bay, forcing Tackle
Shops and Motels to close. The impact was felt throughout the Great Lakes, causing salmon stocking reductions. These stocking reductions have had a ripple down effect, launch ramps no longer had lineups, tackle stores and motels started closing, boat and tackle sales for the Great Lakes dropped and fuel sales and restaurants took a hit. What was once a tens of billions dollar industry was reduced to a 5 billion dollar industry.
The facts are clear, reduce the
Cormorant population to reasonable levels and the alewife bait has a chance to recover, allow the cormorant population to go unchecked and we lose the salmon and those businesses that depend on those fish, fail.