This proposed cormorant hunt…

This proposed cormorant hunt is ill-considered and environmentally irresponsible as it is unsupported by environmental science and only institutes monitoring of its effects after potentially irreversible damage has been done.

Let's assume however that cormorants are a problem in Ontario. Are they a localized problem, or are they a province-wide problem? If localized, as seems to be the case, then the solution should also be localized, not a province-wide hunt.

And if cormorants are a problem, what sort of problem are they? Are the birds themselves a problem, are their colonies a problem, are their fishing habits a problem, is tree damage a problem? Each of these potential problems demands a different solution.

As it stands, this proposed hunt abandons the principles of conscientious game hunting. Since when were game hunters permitted to allow their kill to spoil? Never, until now. And what about a bag limit of 50 birds per day with no possession limit? The kill numbers those parameters allow sets up a slaughter, not a controlled hunt, of cormorants.

Many other elements of this proposal are problematic: the potential by-kill of co-locating species (such as herons), the potential by-kill of birds mistaken for cormorants (such as loons), safety concerns, chick abandonment, and so forth.

If management of the cormorant population -- though apparently stable already -- is desireable, then that is best done by egg and nest management at the rookeries, not by an open season province-wide in an essentially uncontrolled hunt.

This disturbing proposal appears to be an exercise in target shooting, not game hunting, and certainly not species management. It is from all appearances a reprehensible sop to vocal and ill-informed hunting and angling special interests aimed at decimating a native species of bird now recovering from near extirpation in Ontario.

For these and numerous other reasons I object strongly to this proposed cormorant hunt.