I support the change to the…

I support the change to the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act to address Cormorants.
I’m a cottage owner on Red Pine Lake, just west of the Haliburton Forest & Wildlife Reserve. We, that is a significant number of cottagers on the lake, are alarmed by the sudden appearance of Cormorants and the rapidly increasing population. The experience covers over 30 years on my part and over 50 years for many others and we only note the appearance of Cormorants in the last few years. As I recall, before 2015 there were no Cormorants, in 2016 there was a couple Cormorants, in 2017 five or six and this past summer (2018) we counted no fewer than 13 Cormorants in one sitting and I believe our lake is infested with as many as 20. While I recognize this isn’t a scientific analysis the simple trend on my observed population on our Lake is alarming.
We also note the Cormorants are bullying the sea gulls from a shoal of rocks in front of our cottage. As each summer day warms, the Cormorants numbers increase and gulls move on. Cormorants appear to easily out compete gulls and this is a change of the observed pattern for decades.
We also are aware of a roosting place for the Cormorants on the south east shore of the lake and note a number of trees are already showing signs of deterioration unique enough to the area that I’m concluding these trees are suffering from the effects of Cormorants. Visions of our own Tommy Thompson Park cannot be normal.
I’m sure many will argue the 50 birds per day limit is excessive but in my opinion the interest in this hunt will be governed by the number of cormorants infesting a particular area and as the numbers are reduced, so will the interest in the hunt. The planned population monitoring will address this and we won’t have a passenger pigeon scenario.
I’d like to include in my response a reaction to an article I found on the Ontario Nature website wherein a contributor argues about three myths of cormorants in Ontario. First damage to fishing industry; I submit on our lake, where I’ve noted above the very recent appearance of and rapid growth of the population of Cormorant, there is no scientific evidence that Cormorants are not having an effect on game fishing species or food chain for game species. The simple math is, where no Cormorants existed in 50 some years and then appear and grow in numbers rapidly and stay from spring to late fall, they are eating something in increasing quantity that is no longer available to the lake’s game fish food chain. Second, arguing existing laws to protect one’s own property are sufficient is ridiculous. By extension of this notion, if Cormorant populations grew to the point where they ate every single fish in Red Pine Lake and killed hectares of forest around the lake like Tommy Thompson Park in Toronto, as long as they kept their bodies off private property they would be free to wreck the lake. And Third, Cormorant populations may have plateaued from their recovery from DDT pollution which I’ll agree is a good thing but clearly they are expanding into other areas of the Province, rapidly with impact and therefore bear some attention including, as the proposed regulation change notes, population monitoring and regulation adjustment. I’m confident this approach will work.
In conclusion, I support the proposed regulatory change and hope implementation for 2019 is achieved.
Should additional information or follow-up be required I can be reached at rick.rhem@gmail.com.
Thank you
Rick