From Rubble to Refuge: Advancing sustainability of the Leslie Street Spit

The Leslie Street Spit is a 500-hectare construction waste dump that also functions as an ecologically rich urban landscape feature. Since the 1950s, trucks have been depositing construction waste along this narrow landform, to the point where it now extends 5 kilometers from downtown Toronto into Lake Ontario.   Due to the site’s auspicious location

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Cormorant sourcing of anthropogenic nest material in Tommy Thompson Park

by Ashraf Hutchcraft Learning that I was selected for one of EUC's Undergraduate Research Awards (EUCURA) to work with Professor Gail Fraser on research of cormorants was a welcome surprise!  I went into this project with no previous experience in field work, and an expectation of what it would be like.  Throughout the summer months that we were

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Ontario's cormorant hunt and what it means for its future

by Gail Fraser For the last 14 years, I’ve studied double-crested cormorants at Tommy Thompson Park on the east side of Toronto’s harbour. Every April, I put on my coveralls and venture forth to follow a sample of nests, recording when nesting began and whether birds were successful at raising young. My goal is to

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Pre-incident planning key to estimating bird deaths caused by oil spills

Aquatic birds are the most visibly affected organisms in an oil spill and a key measure of the environmental damage caused by them, such as the large spill off the coast of Peru last month. But accurately estimating how many birds have been affected requires pre-incident planning, says new research. With almost 900,000 tonnes of oil released into aquatic environments annually, pre-incident planning is critical to collecting pre-spill data

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Championing the Cormorant: Why experts argue this water bird is unfairly vilified

Conservationists, ecologists, and artists say it’s time to re-evaluate our perception of cormorants Along lakeshores and sea coasts, one bird draws particularly unsettled attention from humans. The cormorant is a striking, dark bird that perches on rocks and cliffs. They live in large colonies across the continent. They're seen negatively by many of their human

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Gail Fraser

Professor Credentials PhD Biopsychology, Memorial University of NewfoundlandMSc Zoology, North Dakota State UniversityBSc Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota Research Keywords Waterbird Ecology; Wildlife Management; Protected Area Management; Environmental Management Of Offshore Oil & Gas. Graduate Supervision I supervise students in the graduate program in Environmental Studies. Contact Information 4700 Keele StreetToronto, ON M3J 1P3 416 736 2100 gsfraser@yorku.ca 

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Ecology, conservation, and management of migratory birds

Birds are important in human cultures, inspiring art, technology and in some cases, are significant sources of food. Migratory birds, those that spend parts of the year in different places, present challenges in understanding their ecology and conservation because their migration across jurisdictions requires a coordinated effort to manage their populations. This is true for

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Prof Gail Fraser offers engaging first-year environmental science course

When Gail Fraser received one of York University’s Academic Innovation Fund grants six years ago to change her Introduction to Environmental Science course from an in-person format to a blended style, little did she know that eventually, she would be delivering the entire course remotely. Thanks to the pandemic, Fraser – a professor and undergraduate program director in York’s

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CBC Radio interview with Prof Gail Fraser on the cormorant hunt

Ontario Morning from CBC Radio Prof. Gail Fraser has long studied cormorants. She explains her opposition to the provincial government's decision to allow the birds to be hunted. With files from cbc.ca.

Open Season on Cormorants

The Agenda with Steve Paikin Earlier this summer the Ontario government announced the introduction of a fall hunting season for double-crested cormorants, starting September 15. Gail Fraser, a professor at York University, specializes in water birds and discusses the hunt and what it could mean for the cormorant's future. Watch now. Episode: Culture, Identity, and

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