9/22/2020 No science behind fall cormorant hunt | No science behind fall cormorant hunt

Letter to the editor More from Letter to the editor (https://www.nugget.ca/author/letter-to-the-editor)

Published on: August 10, 2020 | Last Updated: August 10, 2020 11:38 AM EDT

The province announced July 31 the fall hunting season for double-crested cormorants will begin this year on Sept. 15 and last until Dec. 31. Canadian Press Photo

https://www.nugget.ca/opinion/letters/no-science-behind-fall-cormorant-hunt 1/7 9/22/2020 No science behind fall cormorant hunt | North Bay Nugget This is especially important for addressing sh populations believed to be impacted by cormorants and impacts to habitat because, if they are occurring, such impacts are a result of site- and time-specic conditions.

The U.S. Environmental Impact Statement on cormorant control rejected hunting as an option noting, “The proposed action [depredation orders] is preferable to hunting largely for ethical reasons. From purely biological and economic perspectives, hunting might prove an eective way to kill numerous DCCOs at minimal expense to the government. However, we have serious reservations about authorizing a non-traditional species to be hunted when it cannot be eaten or widely utilized and feel that there are more responsible and socially acceptable ways of dealing with migratory bird conicts.”

This hunt departs from the two of the seven principles of the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation.

First, that wildlife should only be killed for a legitimate, non-frivolous purpose.

Second, that scientic management is the proper means for wildlife conservation.

The hunt is problematic on many other fronts. While the announcement provided an estimate of the 2019 breeding population of cormorants, no assessment was provided that identied the replaceable and sustainable level of cormorant harvest.

If 0.5 per cent of small game hunters reached the daily limit for 10 days that exceeds the estimated breeding population in . Further, there was no indication that reporting by hunters will be required, so how will the numbers of cormorants taken in a fall harvest be assessed? Without such reporting, two factors are of concern.

The rst is the inability to coordinate total numbers of cormorants killed with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on its proposed and probable control eorts.

Second, there will be no data on the incidental take of migratory species that look similar to double-crested cormorants in ight such as the common loon.

https://www.nugget.ca/opinion/letters/no-science-behind-fall-cormorant-hunt 3/7 9/22/2020 No science behind fall cormorant hunt | North Bay Nugget The following is addressed to John Yakabuski, minister of Natural Resources and Forestry:

On July 31, the Government of Ontario announced a 90-day fall hunt on double-crested cormorants when a hunter can take 15 birds a day.

As ecologists, sheries scientists and natural resource managers, we are concerned at the lack of scientic examination associated with the announcement.

The hunt originates from, and is regulated, by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) whose mandate is to “sustainably manage Ontario’s sh and wildlife resources” and, as such, the justications provided for cormorant management should be science-based and backed by rigorous analyses.

To sustainably manage a resource, population objectives must be identied to ensure persistence of the population through time.

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No rationale is provided as to why a province-wide hunt is being adopted instead of targeted localized management approaches.

https://www.nugget.ca/opinion/letters/no-science-behind-fall-cormorant-hunt 2/7 9/22/2020 No science behind fall cormorant hunt | North Bay Nugget The fall harvest was stated to “….help address concerns about impacts to local ecosystems by cormorants, a bird that preys on sh, eating a pound a day, and that can damage trees in which they nest and roost.”

Yet, the approaches used to assess cormorant-sheries interactions indicate that the MNRF will be unable to assess how the removal of an unknown number of cormorants from locations where no problems may even exist will be linked to the state of various sh populations across Ontario.

On that basis alone, targeted, localized management approaches must be adopted instead of a hunt.

Minister Yakabuski, we call on you and the MNRF to provide a science- based, detailed and peer-reviewed approach to resolve conicts with cormorants. At a minimum, the report should include:

• Data on Ontario’s cormorant population (numbers of breeding birds and colonies) and population goals, including analyses on various take levels, the incorporation of ongoing management activities in (e.g., cull on Middle Island Point Peele National Park) and an estimate of how the population will respond to targeted localized management actions to ensure a sustainable population.

• Detailed rationales and objectives for proposed localized management activities.

• An explanation on how the MNRF will coordinate with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in managing the interior and migratory population of cormorants.

Cormorants are a species native to Ontario. A signicant amount of nancial resources was invested in creating a healthier environment which allowed them to recover; their abundance is a conservation success story. To avoid the species becoming endangered again, the population needs to be managed using the best practices in wildlife management and their populations carefully monitored, particularly in conjunction with the USFWS. A hunt is not the approach that should be utilized to ensure maintaining a sustainable population of cormorants in Ontario.

Gail Fraser

https://www.nugget.ca/opinion/letters/no-science-behind-fall-cormorant-hunt 4/7 9/22/2020 No science behind fall cormorant hunt | North Bay Nugget professor, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change

York University

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Murray Cooper Two simple choices Hunt them or nuke em Other measures of control aren't working https://www.nugget.ca/opinion/letters/no-science-behind-fall-cormorant-hunt 5/7 9/22/2020 No science behind fall cormorant hunt | North Bay Nugget Two simple choices. Hunt them or nuke em. Other measures of control aren t working.

Like · Reply · 3 · 6w

Richard Woodward The major players in the fishing industry are in favor of the hunt. Cormorants are not situable for consum considered pests to the fishing industry and as such a hunting season is appropriate. There are many o animals that are pests to farmers that are hunted to control their population and prevent crop and livesto there isn't an increase in fish stocks the hunting of cormorants will self-end as it will be costly to shoot th

Like · Reply · 1 · 6w

Russ Nodder Another southern tells us what to do I tell the south what to do and where to go.

Like · Reply · 3 · 6w

Ron Diggles Every one killed saves 365 pounds of fish a year do the math

Like · Reply · 2 · 6w

Pat Primeau 365 pounds? Is there some magical way that they can get through the ice? Like · Reply · 6w

Richard Woodward Pat Primeau They migrate. Open lakes and rivers in southern ontario. Nothing wrong with the m Like · Reply · 6w

Ron Diggles Pat Primeau ya Georgian bay doesn't freeze Like · Reply · 6w

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Murray Cooper I guess the U.S. could detain and quarantine them indefinetly at the border when they try to illegally cro this fall. Then they could humanely dispose of them with a few grenades.

Like · Reply · 1 · 6w

Marj Dubeau They killed all the trees on an island on Nosbonsing. There used to be only a few, the population grew a year we noticed that some of the dead trees had been cut, this year the remaining large trees were cut. few birds on that island, but have been spotted elsewhere on very large pine trees, which will no doubt only a few years. The once good fishing is certainly on the decline... I am sure there are many factors, but feeding the hu cormorants certainly would have some kind of influence on the fishing. Like · Reply · 6w

Sonia Cirka This credible scientist is stating facts. There is no science that backs up the hunt. Why can't people get species that has to be killed because of the hunting and fishing lobby, (which brainwashes their membe that what they are doing is better for the environment) and because there are some dead trees on Crow regenerate eventually? What's the science behind a mourning dove hunt anyone? https://www.nugget.ca/opinion/letters/no-science-behind-fall-cormorant-hunt 6/7 9/22/2020 No science behind fall cormorant hunt | North Bay Nugget regenerate eventually? What's the science behind a mourning dove hunt anyone? Like · Reply · 5w

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