Double-crested cormorants…

Double-crested cormorants have long been subjected to periodic government culls and public persecution despite protection under the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act (Ontario). However, the Ontario government's plan to designate double-crested cormorants a 'game' bird, and allow a 9-month open season with a 50 daily bag limit, is a radical shift in the management of this species, bringing with it real concerns of uncontrolled and unsustainable hunting. Equally worrisome would be the impact of this legal hunt on other roosting birds, such as great egrets, great blue herons, and white pelicans, a species protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918. Persistent complaints by sport and commercial anglers that cormorants complete for the same valued fish species are scientifically unfounded and should not be the basis for any changes to the game laws. Sport fish have been shown to make up only a very small percentage of the cormorant diet.