Dear Government of Ontario:…

Dear Government of Ontario:

I am alarmed at this proposal that will allow hunters to kill cormorants, a species which has already been near extinction in the past. This proposal is a call for species annihilation, since the "limit" set is 2.7 billion cormorants (based on the number of small game hunting licenses Ontario issues annually), even though only about 125,000 cormorants exist in the province.

The Government’s proposal would have numerous terrible consequences to wildlife and natural ecosystems in Ontario including, of course, the wholesale, and uncontrolled, slaughter of cormorants.

The Government says it is responding to concerns about too many cormorants, depleted fish stocks and environmental damage. But if fish stocks are indeed depleted, shouldn't you be looking at reducing the number of sport fishing licenses, rather than annihilating one of the species that depends on fish as its sole food source? All species are facing a climate crisis caused by human activities, and studies have shown that one effect is warmer waters which is causing fish to grow smaller (https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/climate-change-fish-shrink-s…).

Cormorant numbers are "relatively modest", according to Zoocheck, and have stabilized and are dropping in some areas. The entire North American double-crested cormorant population is estimated to be less than the population of Toronto, with only about 125,000 birds in the lower Great Lakes. Cormorant numbers on the US-side of the border have already dropped (naturally) by 30% or more.

Please reconsider and drop this proposal. Those who care about the future of our beautiful blue planet are busy trying to save ecosystems and species, and initiatives such as this--increasing the death toll of a particular scapegoat species through gratuitous killing--are even harder to stomach in times like this.

Sincerely,

C. Gomery
Board member, Canadian Unitarians for Social Justice
CUSJ.org