I do not believe that…

I do not believe that Ontario should establish a hunting season for Double-crested Cormorants as proposed.

There is no empirical evidence provided as part of the proposal that cormorants are detrimental to fish populations or island forest habitats. Without this evidence, I do not see how any meaningful conservation decision can be made.

It is not clear to me how aesthetics has any bearing on whether or not a species should be hunted, but for the record I find double-crested cormorants an attractive species, and their communal nesting behaviour is fascinating.

The proposed hunting season includes the nesting season. Hunting cormorants during nesting season would have a negative impact on other protected species such as Great Blue Herons and Black-crowned Night Herons. I often see those species on or in close proximity to the island used for nesting by cormorants near my home. The noise and disturbance caused by hunting would certainly impact the ability of other species to successfully nest. Doubtless herons would be mistaken for cormorants and shot.

I do not think it is appropriate that the daily bag limit is set so high and that the meat will be allowed to spoil. This sort of unrestricted hunting caused many bird species to come close to extinction a century ago and is what lead to cormorants and other migratory birds to be protected in the first place.

Rather than creating a hunting season for cormorants and then studying the impact on the cormorant population it would make more sense to first study the impact of cormorants on fish populations and provide some evidence that they are causing harm that could then be used as the basis to make an informed decision on whether or not they should be hunted.

Given that cormorants and fish have co-existed in Ontario for millennia, any declines in fish population are much more likely to be due to human activities rather than to the activities of cormorants.