Ontario’s Double-crested Cormorant hunting season may be ineffective but that doesn’t mean there are no conflict issues

[摘要] After reading Hobson (2021) and the follow-up editorial byCooke (2021), we were compelled to clear up somemisunderstandings regarding Double-crested Cormorant(Nannopterum auritum, hereafter “cormorant”) management toaddress predation issues on fisheries resources. As researchers andmanagers who have been actively involved in cormorant-relatedresearch, management, and policy development for decades, weoffer an alternative perspective on this controversial issue. This isnot a rebuttal per se, because we agree with Hobson’s and Cooke’sprincipal opinion that management with a province-wide fallhunting season is a poor method of addressing cormorantconflicts. We do, however, take exception to some of theassertations they make as the reasoning for that opinion. Thissituation provides an opportunity to address misconceptionsabout cormorant and fishery interactions, summarize the currentstate of knowledge on the issue, and discuss a different approachbased on collective experience in the United States.

[学科分类] 口腔科学

[关键词] cormorants;Laurentian Great Lakes;management;Ontario;policy