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

Dorr et al explain that Ontario Canada's double-crested cormorant hunting season may be ineffective but that doesn't mean there are no conflict issues. The question of cormorant impacts is more complex in its ecological dynamics and its societal role than they feel either the Hobson (2021) or Cooke (2021) editorials acknowledged. They believe the conversation around cormorants has evolved from whether they can affect fisheries, to how to best determine when and where those fisheries impacts may be ecologically or socially unsustainable. Seeing cormorant predation as an allocation issue of limited resources will require difficult conversations and decisions about priorities by management agencies. Although perhaps costly and difficult, this decision-making process regarding resource use is a fundamental aspect of fishery and wildlife management. By applying the principles of stakeholder involvement and deliberative decision making based on data and science, they have every confidence that this issue can be effectively addressed in a way that is both socially acceptable and ecologically sound.