The proposal to allow a so…

The proposal to allow a so-called hunting season for double-crested cormorants is not based on scientific evidence and should not proceed.

No scientific evidence has been produced by the Ministry to support this proposal. While cormorant populations have increased in recent decades, it is important to remember that the species was fighting back from the brink of extinction. Evidence shows that the climb in populations has levelled out around the Great Lakes basin and may actually be falling as part of a natural cycle. Study is needed on population levels before a hunting season is opened.

Allowing each hunter to shoot as many as 50 Double Crested Cormorants per day, for 10 months of the year, including during the nesting season, and leave their bodies to spoil where they fall is not "hunt" it's a slaughter.

It's especially troubling that the proposal allows for hunting during the nesting season as cormorants nest with a dozen other species and this will disrupt the reproductive success of all the species.

It's important to note that cormorants have been providing an important food source for the rebounding Bald Eagle population around the great lakes. What impact will reduction in cormorant populations have on Bald Eagles? As well, as cormorants are what's called an "Apex Predator" and scientific studies show that when apex predators are removed, it cause catastrophic changes all down the food chain, what impacts will reduced cormorant populations have on the Great Lakes ecosystem as a whole? This includes on the invasive fish species that cormorants help control.

Cormorants resemble herons when in the air and loons when on the water, making it likely these species will be shot by accident if this hunt is allowed. What impact will a cormorant hunt have on those species?

While cormorant faces may kill a small number of trees, the number is nowhere near the number of trees destroyed every year by development around the Great Lakes. While the affected trees may look unsightly, the environmental impact is minuscule and part of the natural cycle. It is not reason for the hunt.

Allowing "spoilage" is disgusting and inhumane. How can a hunt be controlled if there is no way to know how many animals have been killed?

Please, listen to the scientists. Do the studies. Understand the ecosystem impacts before allowing a hunt to proceed.