How do you spell pollution? CORMORANTS!!

To the Editor:

The recent Ministry of Natural Resources (M.N.R.) proposal to cull double-crested cormorants at Presqu'ile Provincial Park is controversial to some, but a step in the right direction for all.

Overpopulations of cormorants threaten fish stocks, shoreline vegetation, water quality, and biological diversity. Currently, the population of the Great Lakes basin is estimated at 250 times historic levels. The park itself will soon, once again, be overrun by these birds.

Cormorant numbers have exploded in a short time, due, in no small part, to a banning of DDT, increased water clarity, and abundant food and nesting sites available to them in the absence of population control.

After visiting cormorant nesting colonies, one can not deny that too many cormorants adversely affect our environment. Their caustic excrement destroys trees that eked their way toward maturity in those fragile windswept places. Nesting patterns of other less successful species are altered; water quality is diminished; and waterfront property values and recreational opportunities are lessened.

Culling will reduce the numbers of breeding cormorants. It is a step designed to save special places like Presqu'ile, and help restore balance to our fisheries, as well as safeguard rare species of birds and unique habitats.

Yes, we could wait and hope for a bust in cormorant populations. Unfortunately, while we do this, Presqu'ile and other unique ecosystems will continue to be damaged, and will take a long time to recover.

It is the responsibility of our Ministry of Natural Resources to conserve biological diversity, and wisely manage our resources so that everyone can share multiple benefits from them. Plenty of deliberation and good science supports the proposed cull, and the M.N.R. has not entered into this lightly. Let's allow them to do their job.