I have significant…

I have significant objections regarding the proposal to open a season on double crested cormorants. My objections center around my experiences as someone who loves the outdoors and also as a hunter.

I object strongly to the term of the proposal in that it suggests opening up a "hunting season" for the birds. As a hunter, I firmly believe in the basic concept that we do not hunt or kill anything that we don't intend to use and we would never shoot a bird without the intent to consume the meat that each animal provides. There is absolutely no way that a random killing of up to 50 birds that are largely considered to be inedible could be considered a "hunt". This is at best a cull and it should be named such as there is no way that I would consider such pointless killing to be anything related to the proper and respectful tradition of hunting. I find this suggestion to be deeply offensive.

I also have serious reservations about the timing of the hunt placing it directly in conflict with tourists and recreational campers, boaters, fisherman etc who will be sharing the wilderness and waterways with people armed with guns who will be shooting at birds in the same areas inhabited by unarmed people. I just don't see how anyone could think this was a good idea and this would clearly be a recipe for disaster. I can't think of anyone who would be excited at the thought that they would have to consistently be concerned about encountering armed individuals all summer long at their cottages, homes and in their boats.

I also fear that many non target species are going to be negatively affected by the disruption caused by gunfire on nesting grounds and in an environment shared by so many other birds that will have their nesting habits disturbed or possibly be hit by accident during the shooting.

Finally, I strongly question the logic behind the cull in that I am under absolutely no illusion that this cull will have any noticeable affect on fish stocks in any of the Great Lakes or waterways in the province. With climate change, habitat loss and invasive species all impacting our fisheries in a major way, killing cormorants seems to be a pretty simplistic way to appease those who want real action to preserve our important fishery without actually making any of the harder but necessary management decisions that would certainly be a little more controversial but ultimately be the correct ones that would have a real impact.

I ask that you reverse this decision and look for other less violent means of managing the population of cormorants in Ontario.