I find this proposal…

I find this proposal alarming. I am a retired biologist. As I interpret it, a coordinated attack, which is entirely possible given the current social network, coupled with the number of people with Ontario hunting licenses, could eliminate most cormorants in Ontario in any given year. While most hunters are far too intelligent to participate, if even 2% did, at the "harvest" (read "execution") rate of 50/day ---??? The OMNRF biologists (I presume some were involved) who wrote the proposal do not provide any numbers for further consideration of this concern. I have no confidence in the inclusion within the proposal for a "cormorant monitoring program", unless the details are specified in the regulation. From my experience, the Ontario Government will be reluctant to commit to any long-term commitment of funding for specific wildlife population monitoring -- especially for a non-game species.

My handwritten comments on the print-out that I made of the proposal almost equal the length of the proposal. I will try to confine further comments on it to the following few points:

1. Pre-1950 "populations" are mentioned but no numbers are given for the size of these populations -- this is essential base-line information -- especially so after the apparent levelling off of populations over the past few years.

2. The cormorant population increases beginning in the 1970's seem to coincide with the beginning of the decline in alewife populations and their die-offs that were such a problem on Great Lakes beaches in the 1960's. Has OMNRF done any actual research into the diet of cormorants? Modern DNA research (i.e. eDNA) would seem to be a relatively easy tool tool to determine what they are eating.

3. I have an image of hunters sitting in their "stationary motor boat" (apparently canoes, kayaks, sailboats are not allowed) banging away at nesting cormorants on an island/islet, then because of regulation requirements, going on-shore to pick up the dead birds, so as to dispose of them somewhere -- all apparently without regard for any other nesting birds (gulls, terns, herons) on said island/islet. Am I missing something here? And if adult cormorants returning to their nest are shot, what happens to the nestlings? There is a reason why hunting seasons do not extend through the breeding season . I think the word that best describes it is "compassion".

4. Re. disposal of carcasses: Even if the proposed regulation were to provide specifics, I would have to question this. I know many hunters, and all dispose of their deer and moose guts "where the coyotes, foxes and wolves can feed on them" -- mostly at the kill site. I have never known a hunter who buried the offal. We live in the country and know that come hunting season our dogs, who are trained to normally stay on our 100 acre property, will at times haul in deer legs and pieces of hide. Fortunately I live well away from the Great Lakes -- where cormorant disposal is likely to become an issue under the proposed regulation.