I'm very concerned about…

I'm very concerned about this proposed legislation. It doesn't appear to be based on sound science nor is any provision made for a ensuring that the cull overshoots and thereby puts the Cormorant population at risk of extinction.

1) Has the science been done to determine what knock-on effects of a significantly-reduced Coromorant population will have on the ecosystem? Will invasive fish species that have been kept in check be able to proliferate and cause serious and unanticipated damage to the ecosystem?

2) Has the science been done to determine what the ecologically-safe cull numbers are? At 50 coromorants/day, I've seen estimates that this translates to 14,250 birds per year. That seems awfully high.

3) Even if a prudent target cull number is arrived at, I see no realistic provisions in the legislation for making sure that hunters don't exceed these numbers. Given the motivation for hunting these birds - to eliminate a 'nuisance' rather than for meat - it is not hard to imagine that exceeding allowed kills is a very strong possibility. Furthermore, because Cormorants congregate, it is easy to imagine some hunters wiping out breeding colonies.

You have a duty to share with Ontarians credible evidence that the above and other considerations have been carefully considered and dealt with using sound science. The potential repercussions of an uninformed and poorly thought-out legislation could have permanent and serious ecological impacts some of which might have very real economic impacts.