I am writing to express my…

I am writing to express my extreme opposition to your proposal to designate the cormorant as a legitimate game bird for licensed hunters to slaughter at the insane rate of 50 birds per day for an entire season. This is not a hunt. This is not even a cull. It is a deliberate slaughter of a native species of bird that has its own place in the environment. Your stated reason? Because fish stocks are down.

The cormorant is a native species of bird who has had an established place in the environment for millions of years. The reason fish stocks are down is because of commercial and sport overfishing, rural and urban pollution and environmental degradation caused by dams, water diversion and dredging which is all caused by humans, not cormorants.

Under your proposal, hunters will be allowed to leave the carcasses to rot where they were slaughtered which would be a both an eyesore and a potential health hazard. You are also proposing to allow hunters to shoot the birds from boats in public waterways. Your hunting season spans the entirety of open water tourism when swimmers, pleasure boaters and sport fishers could potentially be in the line of fire. Yes, I know, the hunters are required to make sure there is no one in the line of fire when they shoot but every year innocent people are shot by hunters on land. What makes you think it will be any different on open water?

The cormorant has a passing resemblance to many diving birds, including Loons, Grebes, Diving Ducks and Mergansers. Undoubtedly mistakes in identification will be made and many of these species could be threatened - especially if the adult birds are killed during the fledgling season.

Finally, I live on a lakeshore property in northern Ontario and I do not want to wake up to the sound of someone slaughtering cormorants with shotguns at the first light of dawn. This proposal is akin to the introduction of Cane Toads to Australia in the 1930s to control a beetle problem, which was caused by the introduction of sugar cane. If our fish stocks are down don't blame the natural predator who has been there for eons. Blame the humans who have comparatively just arrived.