Cormorants are a native…

Cormorants are a native species to the region, predating humans by millennia. They have a right to be here, and their numbers have only recently returned to a healthy range in the wake of negative impacts from direct and indirect human intervention (hunting and pollution). Justification for a cull based on claims of aesthetics are subjective, self-serving, and have nothing to do with science.
On the other hand, if we apply the government’s justification re: impact on sport fishing stocks, to the actual agents of their depletion, we’ll be culling the anglers themselves.
There is no legitimate or scientific justification for a cull to begin with. That the proposed cull is so ill thought out and unbalanced, should be offensive to anyone whose rational capacities are not permanently overwhelmed with blood lust.
Claims that the various effects of the cull will be neutral are not merely unsupported; rather they are obviously wrong, in most cases contradicted by science and existing studies. And speaking of studies, the government’s claim that it will monitor cormorant populations going forward, is specious to the point of insult: a moments consideration of the scope of the proposal makes it plain that the entire cormorant population could be wiped out in a single season. That’ll be a quick study. On the other hand I can’t wait to hear what the local populace will be saying as the rotting carcasses that the hunters will be permitted to dump, start bringing out the coyotes.
This is not good stewardship. This is just more bullying, from a government that has no mandate and no plan, just a steady stream of unpleasant surprises.