The proposal to establish a…

The proposal to establish a hunting season for Double-crested Cormorants in Ontario is ill-conceived at best, and egregiously unscientific at worst. I carried out field research on diet in Double-crested Cormorants on Lake Winnipegosis, Manitoba, in the 1980s: cormorants are opportunistic feeders, as we all know, and will catch whatever species of fish is available. We found that the range of fish taken was extensive, but very few of commercially valuable species were caught, and their diet was primarily coarse fish such as White Sucker, a species which likely is harmful to more desirable fish (so the argument could be floated that the cormorants were actually beneficial to those desirable fish - a simplistic argument on a par with the argument that cormorants are "bad" because they eat a commercially valuable one). But … where is the evidence that they damage fish stocks? It appears to be anecdotal at best. And, if there is to be a reduction in population, what is the size of the population after this cull has ended? And, if the Ministry has determined that X is the size to be attained, then it should be reached by skilled professionals working for the government. The worst scenario is to throw the cull wide open to hunters, with no control on where and when, leaving the killing by error of other species a real probability, and a genuine abrogation of responsibility by the Ministry.