Dear Mr. Snobelen,
I am very disappointed to hear of the planned destruction of thousands of cormorants and urge you to not bow to political pressure from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters by using cormorants as a scapegoat for a flawed and unsustainable fisheries program.
We should rejoice over the recovery of the cormorant population after the last human-influenced devastation in the 1950s and 60s. After all, it shows that the Great Lakes system is healthy. Without human interference, the cormorant population will naturally adjust to the carrying capacity of the environment.
So, it is pretty clear that the Ontario government's planned control is influenced by sports anglers, whose interest is not ecological; sports anglers are only interested in increasing the number of fish for them, and if that means the destruction of another predator or competitor, than so be it.
Wildlife management should be based on ecological principles backed by scientific research, not dominated by the needs and whims of commercial interests. There is absolutely no scientific foundation to suggest that cormorants are contributing to any fisheries decline, including fish species valuable for commercial and recreational purposes. according to the government's own studies. In fact, a review of government literature shows that cormorants are actually playing a significant role in stabilizing lake ecosystems by filling the role of top predator, which has been seriously unbalanced within the Great Lakes for decades. These conclusions are consistent with other studies across North America. According to The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources' most current studies (Lake Huron Management Unit Report 1995/1996):
Cormorants are opportunist eaters, feasting mostly on rainbow smelt and alewife - exotic and problematic fish species within the Great Lakes. Rainbow smelt and alewife have little commercial value.
Fish species of interest to sport anglers (smallmouth bass and yellow perch) or commercial fisheries (lake whitefish) comprise a very small proportion of the cormorant diet.
All the commercial fisheries in Lake Huron are in decline except the North Channel where cormorants are most abundant but human harvests are relatively low, signalling that commercial and recreational harvests are unsustainable. Yet, there are no in depth studies to determine the impacts of the commercial and recreational fisheries on local fish stocks.
Re-establishing natural fish predators within the Great Lakes system, such as lake trout, should stabilize predator to prey relationships and limit cormorant numbers.
Instead of pacifying sports anglers and hunters, won't you please read the studies and enhance your own understanding of the problems within the Great Lakes aquatic system before deciding to unjustifiably suffocate 5000 - 7000 cormorant embryos by spraying eggs with oil?
Sincerely,
