To the MInistry of…

To the MInistry of Environment,

I am writing because I feel the current proposal of the Cormorant hunt is both excessive and not based on sound science. Based on the suggested numbers this hunt would lead to extinction of a species which I find bewildering. Dwindling fish for recreational fishing is not a result from a species that is naturally part of a ecosystem but government mis-managment of fisheries and monitoring and controlling of pollution in our great lakes. To kill of a species is not going to solve that and our fisheries is still going to decline. To quote from Edward Kroc in his blog:

*** Dozens of studies over the past three decades have repeatedly shown that cormorants do not have a significant negative impact on commercial fish populations, with most of these studies targeted specifically on the Great Lakes. For example, studies on Lake Ontario indicate that fish most attractive to human fishermen (Lake Trout and Salmon) comprise less than 2% of cormorant diets, and that cormorants consume about 0.5% of critical prey fish, an insignificant number especially when compared against the 13% taken by sport fishermen (Weseloh & Collier 1995). Many other studies that fail to show a meaningful impact of cormorants on open fisheries are discussed in Reed et al. 2003. Moreover, it is well known that cormorant diets consist of mostly nonsport fish species like the invasive Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) (e.g. see Belyea et al. 1999, Reed et al. 2003). Anglers have been shown to impose far more stress on their preferred fish populations than cormorants do on theirs (Ridgway et al. 2012)..

Please suspend all plans for this hunt and look for more humane and reasonable solutions to the problems in our fisheries.