Cormorant Season Announced

[pinepointer]

https://news.ontario.ca/mnr/en/2020/...e-habitat.html

News Release

Ontario Taking Steps to Protect Fish and Wildlife Habitat

Fall Harvest for Double-Crested Cormorants Introduced to Protect Local Ecosystems

July 31, 2020 11:15 A.M.Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry

FENELON FALLS - The Ontario government is taking steps to protect fish stocks and natural habitat from the harmful impacts of double-crested cormorants by introducing a fall harvest for the species. The harvest will help address concerns about impacts to local ecosystems by cormorants, a bird that preys on fish, eating a pound a day, and that can damage trees in which they nest and roost.
The announcement was made today by John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry.
"We've heard concerns from property owners, hunters and anglers, and commercial fishers about the kind of damage cormorants have caused in their communities, so we're taking steps to help them deal with any local issues," said Minister Yakabuski. "In large amounts, cormorant droppings can kill trees and other vegetation and destroy traditional nesting habitats for some other colonial waterbirds, so it's critical that we take action to strike a healthy balance in local ecosystems."
Following public consultations, the province has made changes to its initial proposal and has decided to introduce a hunting season that will run annually from September 15 to December 31, starting in 2020.
"We listened to those who provided comments about the cormorant hunting proposal, and as a result, we are introducing only a fall hunting season to avoid interfering with recreational users of waterways and nesting periods for some migratory birds," said Minister Yakabuski. "We have also reduced the maximum number of cormorants a hunter can take to 15 a day, which is a similar limit to one for federally regulated migratory game birds such as mourning doves, Snow and Ross's Geese, Rails, coot and Gallinules."
In 2019, the ministry and partner agencies surveyed cormorant colonies across the Great Lakes and select inland lakes in Ontario. Based on nest count surveys, there are an estimated minimum of 143,000 breeding cormorants in 344 colonies across the province. Combined with historical data, trends suggest that cormorant populations are increasing in Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake Superior and are stable on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Huron.
"Growing up in North Bay and spending many summers fishing on Lake Nipissing, I have seen firsthand the issues that cormorants have caused in some local areas," said Mike Harris, Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. "A new fall hunting season will help communities manage cormorant populations where they have negatively impacted natural habitat and other waterbird species."
"Cormorants have been a growing problem on Sturgeon Lake and Balsam Lake, where they have covered islands with their guano, killing trees and vegetation," said Laurie Scott, MPP for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. "We're listening to local residents who have voiced their concerns and asked for additional tools to address the issue."
Ontario has a healthy and sustainable cormorant population. We will continue to monitor the cormorant population status and trends to support sustainability of cormorants in the province.
Quick Facts

• Double-crested cormorants are fish-eating birds, usually eating easy-to-catch fish species. They nest on the ground or in trees on islands and peninsulas.
• In large amounts, cormorant droppings, called guano, can kill trees and other vegetation and destroy traditional nesting habitats for some other colonial waterbirds.
• Competition between cormorants and some colonial nesting waterbirds has been well documented, including the displacement of some other species by cormorants.
• Hunters are responsible for appropriately identifying their target and ensuring they are harvesting only double-crested cormorants.
• While some hunters may choose to consume cormorants, those who choose not to consume the cormorants they harvest must retrieve the birds and dispose of them properly.

[fratri]

Good, lets get rid of some of these pests.......
To summarize.....(unless I am mistaken)
September 15 to December 31, starting this September (2020) ...... Fifteen a day across the entire province, Steel shot only, don't have to eat them, just dispose of them properly....

Even with this welcomed season, they will be tough to kill

[smitty55]

Here's the summary.
https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/013-4124

[SongDog]

Great news. Even driving through Hamilton everyday and the amount of these birds I see each day is crazy. Actually I dont see any other birds besides Cormorants and seagulls.

Not many where I hunt but I'll be glad to shoot as many as I can.


Who's got a hook up on cormorant decoys? Lol

Sent from my SM-G960W using Tapatalk

[Snowwalker]

Did you read the requirements for disposal? Sounds like you will be paying to dispose of the birds you shoot.

Not sure if it's possible to build a digestion( composting ) system for them..

[MeghanOOD]

OOD's story on the approval just went up:
https://oodmag.com/fall-double-crest...hunt-approved/

[dean.f]

Last duck season I had a huge swarm of them in a feeding frenzy pass across my decoys by the hundreds I've never seen anything like it. It would be nice if they were a tasty pest.... who's going to give it a try?

[LiveBates]

Did you read the requirements for disposal? Sounds like you will be paying to dispose of the birds you shoot.

Not sure if it's possible to build a digestion( composting ) system for them..

You're allowed to just bury them in your yard.

[LiveBates]

There's aprox 10-12 on my lake, they'll be taken care of sept 15 they sun themselves on one little island with there wings spread.....almost as they're taunting.....lol.

[Fenelon]

You can call me a cynic, but I'm already thinking it will be a black eye for all hunters when you get dead birds pitched into the cattails right at the public boat launch, covered in maggots and stinking to high hell. Next will come the social media flap when the person walking their dogs finds 50 of them dumped on the closed road allowance where they exercise their dogs. I cant see the average hunter paying to dump them at the landfill. Hopefully common sense prevails. Wonder if the extra shooting early in the season will cause the geese to be early spooked and shy.