The Canadian Society of…

The Canadian Society of Environmental Biologists wishes to provide comments to Proposal 013-4124 to establish a hunting season for double-crested cormorants in Ontario.

We suggest that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry conduct population surveys before developing any hunting regulations. Should a hunting season be implemented based on the results of the surveys, it is recommended that it should be temporary until numbers are reduced and that it is accompanied by continued annual population monitoring by the Ministry. The use of nuisance wildlife permits may also be an option to deal with specific human conflict instances.