I am a retired 74 year old…

I am a retired 74 year old who was born and raised on the Big Rideau Lake. I am also a trout fisherman and have been actively persuing that hobby all my life. We currently have a healthy community of cormorants on the lake and they are progressively destroying our fishery. Over the last couple of years it is almost impossible to see a school of bait fish on sonar and the quantity and size of the catch is smaller and in most cases their stomachs are almost empty if not totally empty. I have caught trout with 25 plus minnows in them that were less than a 1/2 inch in length and one that had a couple of baby bass in its stomach. Portland is a small community and it depends on the tourist trade especially boating and fishing. Allowing us to clean up the cormorants will go a long way to restoring the fishery. Also the restocking of bait fish, if that is possible, would be of particular benefit. I hope this bill is past quickly as we need to help our beautiful lake.