Having grown up on Rondeau…

Having grown up on Rondeau bay, I have seen firsthand the effects as the cormorant population has increased over the last 40 years. One only has to be up early at first light to witness these birds swimming down the bay in a line enmass diving for fish which have little chance of escaping, to realize the devastating effect these birds have had. As a boy and teenager one could throw a fishing line in anytime to catch small crappies, perch or bluegills, now the commarants show up and within a week they clean all fish out of the bay. To behold their structured attack swimming and diving in a straight line as they go down the bay is remarkable because I had no idea these birds were capable of such a coordinated attack. The good news is 2- 3 weeks after the birds show up, 90% of them now leave and move on because the fish are all gone. In my youth it was always possible to fish for bass, yellow perch, etc. all summer long, and we would feed the blue gills bread every night at dusk. It still happens in the spring until the cormorant invasion shows up, then there is not a fish to be seen anywhere in the bay. I assume the mild winters are also playing a part in their survival and longevity because many of the birds are very very large now and some look very old looking where as in my youth they were smaller. Please reconsider whatever it takes to slow these birds down so that future generations can enjoy the wonders of the water in the bay. Without the fish after the birds leave the bay becomes a desolate dead looking pond with the turtles being the only life you see. Its a slippery slope in the food chain when you take out all of one species such as when the birds remove the fish.