There are several issues…

There are several issues with the current proposed cormorant "hunt" from my perspective.

The ethics of hunting itself generally dictate that the animals hunted are to be used for food or livelihood. There is no evidence that this is the case here so presenting this as a hunt is false advertising and will only serve those who actively campaign against hunting. To promote the shooting and disposal of dead animals does nothing to promote responsible use of our natural resources. Do not enact this as a "hunting season" but withdraw this quick fix and enact this as what is truly is, a wildlife control measure and conduct it as a management program rather than a marginally managed hunting season.

If this hunting season were to be implemented, what, if any, ongoing monitoring and related recovery actions are to be implemented to assess the impacts on cormorant populations and the anticipated benefits of reduced cormorant populations to fish stocks and terrestrial habitats. What, if any, are these measureable/anticipated goals and how are they proposed to be measured. What will be the impact to existing wildlife programs of dedicating resources to new efforts to monitor a new hunting season. Self reporting by hunters should not be the only measure of impacts and even mandatory reporting comes with its own biases. I would suggest it will not be revenue neutral as there will be few, if any, new hunting permits issued as a result of this proposed regulation so funding will have to come from the already low funding in the budgets of MNRF. At what point will further interventions be considered as the proposal already seems to suggest that this hunting season is anticipated to have small impacts. Also, what is anticipated in terms of movement of cormorants into new areas as a result of hunting pressure on existing colonies-what sites might be vulnerable to establishment of new colonies-and will there be any consideration of sites in Ontario which should be closed to cormorant hunting/shooting activity due to other sensitive features?

What is the anticipated participation rate of Ontario hunters in this proposed season? how long might the effort continue until there is participant fatigue and what will happen then? Other than giving hunters and fishermen the opportunity to target an animal they see as a competitor for sport fish stocks I see that as proposed there will be limited opportunity for effective management or control of the cormorant population in Ontario as a result.