As a professional wildlife…

As a professional wildlife biologist specializing in waterbirds, I am surprised that this proposal has not been more well-researched and the goals more clearly defined. Lethal management of cormorants on Great Lakes colonies has been successful but the impacts on co-nesting species need to be taken into account (Wyman et al. 2018). There is also no clear evidence that cormorants impact fisheries to any significant degree (Dor et al. 2014). If the goals are to reduce certain nuisance colonies, why not focus on methods that are more locally targeted and less disruptive to other species (e.g. egg oiling)? It is unclear what the government is trying to achieve given that hunters are unlikely to want to hunt cormorants to the levels and in the most appropriate and less disruptive places to make a difference to the overall population. I would have liked to see more background on how the ministry came up with the bag limit and season duration, as well as studies to poll hunters to get an idea of what the intensity of the harvest will be and whether it will meet their goals (which should also be defined). Finally, I would like to see how they are proposing to monitor the species status and trend, especially given a lack of baseline data.

Dorr BS, Hatch JJ, Weseloh DV. 2014. Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus), version 2.0. In The Birds of North America (AF Poole, Editor). Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY, USA. https://doi.org/10.2173/bna.441

Wyman KE, Wires LR, Cuthbert FJ. 2018. Great Lakes Double-crested Cormorant management affects co-nester colony growth. Journal of Wildlife Management 82: 93-102.