To Whom It May Concern: For…

To Whom It May Concern:

For many reasons that have been published elsewhere including the largest non-profit organization for the study of birds, Bird Studies Canada, making Double-crested Cormorants (DCCO) a game species and allowing an open season for the entire time that they live in the province of Ontario, is a very bad idea. Scientific data show that this species only depresses sports fish populations in a very small number of studies, and not in any of the Great Lakes, although there is some very small local depression of forage fish around very large colonies. To kill Double-crested Cormorants on their nesting colonies would also greatly disturb other species that are nesting nearby including threaten Common and Caspian Terns. It is also incredibly inhumane to consider killing parents of birds while they have eggs or young. Double-crested Cormorant populations have also stabilized and, although they do cause destruction of their nesting trees, this destruction is tiny in comparison to the scale of destruction that occurs due to human activities such as industrial or housing developments. DCCO are a native species to Ontario with bones showing up in prehistoric middens even in Northumberland County so there is no good reason to assault our local biodiversity.