Re: EBR 013-4124: Proposal…

Re: EBR 013-4124:
Proposal to establish a hunting season for Double-crested Cormorants in Ontario
Submitted Jan. 2, 2019
https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4124

To whom it may concern:
I am a retired journalist and amateur naturalist with a strong interest in the environment, in nature and the welfare of our native species. I am a former employee of the Ontario Dept. of Lands and Forests and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. My post-graduate research in Ontario fisheries was funded in part by the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters. I am an occasional fisher but I have never hunted. I am a keen boater on Lake Ontario and more than familiar with the Double-crested Cormorant with all its pros and cons. Apart from the above statements, I have no vested interest in the welfare of the Cormorant nor in angling or hunting. I consider myself to be keen and knowledgeable about our native species, but I do not claim to be an expert.

That said, I have to say that I am dismayed, even shocked, that the Government of Ontario would even consider the aforesaid legislation. The proposed ‘hunt’ amounts to no more than a massacre of a bird species in a vain attempt to placate a small number of vociferous anglers and hunters. The proposed cull has no basis in science or logic. Such a massacre reminds me of the extermination of Passenger Pigeons in the early years of the 20th century and the near extermination of Bison on the Canadian prairies in the late 19th century. Such a kill can only rebound against the Government of Ontario and cost it votes in the next election. There are, after all, far more naturalists, birdwatchers and animal lovers in this province than there are anglers and hunters.

The proposed Cormorant hunt also poses a significant public health hazard. Can you imagine the public outcry should a naturalist, a birdwatcher, a hiker or, dare I say, a child were shot by a careless hunter determined to reach his daily limit of 50 Cormorants a day? Hunters say this is unlikely to happen. But I can assure you that I have twice heard shot whizzing past my ears when trigger-happy hunters mistook me for a duck hiding in the bushes of cottage country! It will be only a matter of time before a child is killed by a sloppy hunter firing into the bushes to kill a few more Cormorants.
I sail a boat in and around Toronto harbour. How long will it be before a hunter – focused on hitting a Cormorant -- blasts a hole in my sail with his shotgun? How long before he blasts a hole in my wife or me?

I also worry about the other species that co-exist happily with Cormorants. Great Egrets, Great Blue Herons, Black-crowned Night Herons, Terns and Common Loons. How many Loons will be shot by hunters who can say only: “Oops. I goofed. I killed the wrong bird”?

Let me deal with a few numbers. The proposed legislation would permit the hunting of up to 50 cormorants a day for 9.5 months a year. That amounts to 14,250 cormorants per hunter per year every year. This can only be described as a mindless slaughter. One hunter could wipe out every cormorant in Toronto in less than a year.

Hunters argue that few, if any, hunters will strive for their daily limit. Okay. Let us assume that hunters will take it easy and kill just 10 Cormorants a day before getting tired and packing up. Even so, it would take just five (5) hunters to wipe out every Cormorant in Toronto in less than a year.

Cormorant hunting is not even a sport. It is target practice. These birds stand on logs and docks airing themselves in the wind, just waiting to be shot. Under one bizarre proposal, dead birds will be left rotting in the swamps, available to every rat, every vulture and every carrion feeder that happens by.

There is no benefit to shooting Cormorants. It has been shown repeatedly that Cormorants, if disturbed, will just move to a new island, one mile or 20 miles away and establish a new colony and kill more trees. It is far better to leave the Cormorants where they are, in highly defined locations where they have done all the damage they will ever do. It is far better to leave them alone. Let nature take it course.

Yes, it is true that Cormorants poop, just like you and me and every other animal on this planet. And, yes, Cormorant poop does damage trees. But, Cormorants live in small, tightly delineated colonies in specific locations. Yes, they have killed a large number of trees on the Leslie Street Spit in Toronto harbour. But they have disturbed only one small part of the Spit. They have not relocated to other islands in Toronto harbour or nearby woodlands. Moreover, the area they have taken over is hardly a beauty spot. It resembles a construction site, full of chunks of concrete and rebar. Why not leave them there? Their numbers are apparently declining, naturally. They have done all the damage they will ever do.

Yes, Cormorants smell. But again, Cormorants prefer to live in small, isolated areas away from people and noise. The smell they make is limited to a small area and a specific wind direction. If hunters are allowed to shoot them, they will simply move to other islands and create more smells elsewhere. Leave them be! They have done all the harm they will ever do.

Of course, Cormorants eat fish. So do we. But they do not eat sport fish, the Trout and Salmon and Walleye that anglers prefer. Cormorants eat the ‘garbage fish’ that anglers do not want or like. They eat Round Gobies and Alewives and young Carp, invasive species that are a nuisance to anglers. Anglers should thank the Cormorants for keeping these ‘pest fish’ under some sort of control.

In conclusion, I simply do not understand why the Government of Ontario should be party to what can only be described as a senseless, gratuitous and irresponsible slaughter of an indigenous Canadian bird solely to placate a small but vociferous group of anglers and hunters who apparently have a hate-on for this species. The legislation can only hurt the Government of Ontario in the long run. Can you imagine the headline in The Toronto Star or The Globe & Mail the day after an innocent hiker, bird-watcher or, dare I say it, a child is shot to death by a sloppy Cormorant hunter?

The Doug Ford government will be compared with the people who encouraged the extermination of the Passenger Pigeon and the near extermination of the Prairie Bison. There is nothing of interest for the Doug Ford government in the proposed legislation, nothing except the votes of a narrow group of hunters and fishermen, a group that is clearly outnumbered by the naturalists, bird-watchers, hikers and animal-lovers of this province. Cease and desist, please, Mr. Ford. You have nothing to gain from this legislation, but you have a great deal to lose.

Literature Cited:
Gail Fraser, Associate Professor, York University, and expert on Cormorants
Proposed cormorant hunt Dec. 4, 2018
Submission to EBR 013-4124:
http://gsfraser.blog.yorku.ca/research/conservation/proposed-cormorant-…

Edward Kroc, Assistant Professor, UBC
On proposed hunting of the Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) in Ontario; a scientifically baseless and environmentally naive proposition Dec. 17, 2018
Submission to EBR 013-4124:
https://ekroc.weebly.com/uploads/2/1/6/3/21633182/dcc_on_dec2018.pdf

Ontario Nature
Submission to EBR 013-4124:
Anne Bell, Director of Conservation and Education
Dec. 28, 2018
anneb@ontarionature.org

Bird Studies Canada
Submission to EBR 013-4124:
December 2018
https://www.birdscanada.org/news/response-to-proposed-hunting-season-fo…

Ontario Field Ornithologists (OFO)
Submission to EBR 013-4124:
December 2018
http://ofo.ca/ofo-docs/OFOCormorantProposalResponse.pdf

Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
▪ OFAH website: https://www.ofah.org/issues/cormorants/
▪ Letter to Manitoulin Expositor Dec. 14, 2018 by Mark Ryckman, Manager of Policy, OFAH: https://www.manitoulin.ca/letters-a-rebuttal-to-the-december-7-letter-s…

Letter to Peterborough Examiner
by Drew Monkman and Tim Dyson Dec. 14, 2018
Cormorant cull a sign of PC attitudes towards nature
https://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/opinion-story/9085919-peterboro…

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