I am totally against the…

I am totally against the proposal to establish a hunting season for Double-crested Cormorants in Ontario. This proposed hunt is completely unnecessary. I have done considerable work and study on the cormorant issue since first hearing of the proposed hunt in early December.

The populations of cormorants had almost completely collapsed due in a large part due to chemical poising in the 1950's and 60's but they made a spectacular comeback but by all accounts numbers have peaked and have since stabilized and recently there has actually been a decline in numbers in recent years. One researcher says that they have reached a 'zero population growth'.

Scientific evidence shows that the presence of cormorants indicates a healthy fishery and a large part of cormorant diet is alewife and gobies that are non-native fish. They are part of the ecosystem and yes their nesting habits have killed trees but evidence indicates that tree nesting cormorants does not have had a negative impact on other tree nesting birds such as herons. It is my understanding that where cormorants have been a nuisance effective control measures have been put in place to control their numbers. To that I am not opposed.

The 'concerns' about the numbers of cormorants seem to come from a few people or organizations. The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters seems to be the source of hatred of cormorants in Ontario. They always seem to mention emotional points such as smelly guano and the destruction of vegetation. Guess what other species do the same so my fear is first a cormorant hunt and then what?hunting of great blue herons, maybe seagulls or whatever the flavour of the day is. No hunting is not the answer, a proper well balanced ecosystem is. That is largely achieved by allowing nature to runs its own course and only interfering in grave instances such as when there is a threat from invasive species. On the Ontario commercial fishery webpage there was no mention of cormorants.

I had a trip to Newfoundland last spring and one of the highlights of my visit was a boat tour of the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. Along with visitors from around the world I witnessed the presence of thousands of seabirds on the offshore islands that make up the reserve. I will not bore you with the details except to say that it was truly a magnificent sight and is billed as nature's greatest wonders anywhere in the world. I would not disagree. Perhaps we could someday have something similar in Ontario some day.