This is a terrible proposal…

This is a terrible proposal. It is based on the concerns of "some" groups, without input from others, and would study not the potential effects of its implementation, in advance, but only what then happened after implementation (i.e., after harm had potentially been done). It is aimed at a bird population which has previously been in decline and has only recently stabilized. It allows killing birds simply for "sport" (since cormorants are not edible; responsible hunters eat/use what they have killed); it limits bags but not possession; it allows carcasses to rot. It gives the cormorants no chance at all: these are large, rather slow birds the shooting of which is like shooting fish in a barrel, and even allows them to be shot when nesting, and from stationary boats. This isn't sport, it's killing for the pleasure of killing.

Sometimes birds have to be culled if populations grow too large. A responsible cull, which is undertaken after careful study of the situation, is quite different from what is being proposed here.

This is NOT responsible policy, and the proposal should be withdrawn and a careful study undertaken in consultation with all interested groups.