MNRF provides a list of 9 action items that could improve the walleye fishery including:
1. consulting with TSW to determine the feasibility of maintaining a minimum water level in critical walleye spawning areas during and after spawning runs to facilitate successful hatch and dispersal of walleye fry.
2. Consulting with TSW regarding addition/replacement of suitable rock/rubble/gravel immediately downstream of dam structures.
What is your group doing, while they are in talks with TSW about spawning beds & water levels? I’m not saying their not important, but there must be other things we can do to help now.
I suggest putting information on a billboard at each boat launch, lock & Dam locations & any other places fisherman access the water to fish. On these billboards would be info on catch limits, size limits & any other important information about the lake they are fishing on. I have seen & heard many fisherman talk about their success on the water, but 1/2 of their catch was fish that was outside the legal size limits. When I tell them about the size limits, they just say they didn’t know or they say oops & leave & go home.
Anyway, more needs to be done to educate the people who fish our lakes & rivers. I believe that spawning bed restoration & water flow & levels are an important part of the solution, I also believe that education & fish stocking should also be looked at as important tools to help bring walleye back to their historic numbers.
Phil Hunt
Cameron, ON
Hi, Phil
To answer your question, we are trying to find funding.
The TSW is on board with enhancing the spawning bed in Bobcaygeon. To do that, we need an in-water work permit. To get that, we need to apply for a research permit. To apply for the research permit, we need to hire a biologist/engineer who can fill out that lengthy form. The form includes things like: basic impact assessment, an egg mat study, species at risk assessment, construction drawings, access routes, substrate assessment, whether or not we will need a turbidity curtain etc. There is a lot to assess before we can actually do the work. Those assessments, unfortunately, cost a lot of money.
As for fishing education, I couldn’t agree with you more. But this is an MNRF issue.
I have been trying for two years to get the MNRF staff in Peterborough to first acknowledge that there is a problem, and then come up with an action plan to save our walleye—whether that’s supporting my action plan or following their own plan as outlined in the FMZ17 report of 2009 (which they have not followed).
But the MNRF is of the opinion that “things aren’t that bad.”
Compared to what? Not compared to other lakes in different Fisheries Management Zones where the managers are doing a good job. And not compared the the United States where the fishery is booming. And not compared to our own lakes just 30 years ago. Things are that bad! Things seem very bad, for example, on Lake Scugog. That is why I launched this campaign, and I intend to keep up the pressure until something is done.
Both the provincial MNRF and the federal Trent-Severn Waterway have played a part in the declining walleye population and both will need to play their part in fixing things.
MNRF Peterborough:
The MNRF claims that recruitment is “satisfactory,” but what good is recruitment if none of the eggs hatch? And I disagree with the MNRF’s interpretation of their “data” on recruitment. The volunteers who provide that data have recorded dwindling recruitment stats over the past several years and unsuitable spawning conditions.
Some say that restocking is the answer, but we don’t have the required infrastructure to maintain a sizeable fish population. Dumping fish in without creating a supportive environment for spawning only encourages a put-in-take-out scenario. The MNRF supported a slot-size initiative instead of restocking, which the MNRF then did not enforce. The MNRF did create a report in 2009, the result of the Fisheries Management Zone 17 meetings to address walleye decline, and then did none of the items outlined in that report. There was supposed to be a mid-point review in 2014 available to the public. That didn’t happen either.
MNRF Pboro Enforcement: There is a severe lack of enforcement on our lakes. This is something I have discussed with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in Peterborough. There is not nearly the number of officers on staff required to properly enforce the rules of the fishery and, without numbers, how can we monitor slot sizes or poaching out of season? This past summer there were—finally!—a couple of much-needed enforcement blitzes and articles in the paper about fines levied. This is, of course, good! But the MNRF needs to put a focus on hiring many more enforcement officers considering the size of the area that needs to be covered. Two or three officers blitzing once or twice a year isn’t going to cut it. Enforcement needs to happen every single day during fishing season. Anglers need to know they will get caught if they break the rules. And anglers need to know what those rules are to know that they are breaking them.
MNRF Pboro Marketing: The MNRF needs to supply a measurement tape and an information booklet to every person who purchases a licence. Posters should be everywhere at boat launches, public docks, and bait stores. But only a limited number of booklets are supplied to shops who sell licences, their sales outnumbering the pamphlets provided by far. Without this information, how do anglers know what slot size is in effect on each of the various lakes? They don’t! The MNRF needs to make sure every licence is accompanied by a tape measure along with a brochure that informs about lake status, sanctuary locations, seasons, and slot size information. There needs to be better marketing.
This is where your billboard idea makes perfect sense.
What has the MNRF in Peterborough done to help the fishery?
When it comes to the MNRF helping to save the walleye in this area, so far they have fallen down entirely. And from where I sit, it doesn’t look like that trajectory is going to change much.
Marketing (Measuring tape, booklet, billboards, poster) + Enforcement. That’s what is needed. The MNRF Peterborough falls short on both.
TSW:
At the federal level, I have asked for a change to water management and repair of spawning grounds.
Water: I would like to see water levels kept at a higher minimum along the system, adopting a walleye-friendly approach (when possible). I would like to see a higher reliance on top-loading stop log dams to improve water quality in general and, in Bobcaygeon, get water flowing over the spawning grounds (which are directly in front of the stop log sluices).
Spawning bed enhancement: I have also asked the TSW to consider fixing the reproduction environment of our lakes. Repairing the spawning beds beneath the Lindsay and Bobcaygeon dams would benefit spawning walleye. We need to dig the beds deeper and line the area with proper rubble. Currently the spawning beds are too high, too smooth, and over-silted. These conditions have proved unsuitable for successful spawning in recent years. Digging down the spawning beds a couple of feet will mitigate the damage done when water levels drop to the extremes we have seen, exposing the rock and making the eggs unviable.
Without fixing the spawning beds, and changing how we run water over the dams (over the top instead of underneath), we aren’t addressing the real reason for walleye decline.
So I am focussing on the biggest problems: the lack of water, how water flows through the system, and the worn out spawning areas. If we fix these things, we will better support the spawn,
realize higher hatch rates, and see an increase in walleye recruitment over the coming years.
I encourage you to share your concerns with the Trent-Severn Waterway, the MNRF district manager in Peterborough, the Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry, the Honourable Kathryn McGarry, the press, and the public!
Tell the MNRF office in Peterborough and Minister McGarry that unenforced fishing is harmful and that the MNRF should enforce their own slot-size regulations, limits, and seasonal regulations. Suggest to the MNRF that the spawning conditions are, in fact, unsuitable as fish can’t live out of water. Tell them that billboards are needed at launches and docks! I agree with you! And pamphlets are needed that clearly state fishing seasons and — and that a ruler should be provided with every licence! I have tried to tell them this, but with no result.
In a letter I received from Minister McGarry, she stated “For the past several years neither my ministry nor TSW has received any significant report of winter fish kills in the Kawartha Lakes.” That statement was very difficult for me to read in light of the hundreds of fish killed by low winter water in the south end of Pigeon Lake in 2013 and 2014 and the huge number of fish that were killed in Mitchell Lake a few winters ago (that required dump trucks to remove the carnage from the lake). How is it that her ministry has not documented these deplorable fish kills? Does it really take a cottager to pick up the phone to let them know what is going on in their district? Apparently.
Needless to say, it’s time that we start sharing our accounts of fish kills, poaching, illegal slot-size fish, and other mismanagement issues. I have included contact information below:
Trevor Griffin, District Manager, MNRF Peterborough
Robinson Pl South Tower 4th Flr S,
300 Water St, Peterborough, ON K9J 8M5
trevor.griffin@ontario.ca
705-755-3363
MPP Laurie Scott
14 Lindsay Street North
Lindsay, Ontario K9V 1T4
laurie.scottco@pc.ola.org
1-800-424-2490
Hon Kathryn McGarry
Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry
Suite 6630, 6th Floor, Whitney Block
99 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1W3
kmcgarry.mpp.co@liberal.ola.org
416-314-2301
To report a violation (fishing out of season, fishing on a closed lake, fish kills):
Call 1-877-847-7667 or use the online form located at:
http://www.ontario.ca/page/how-report-natural-resource-violation-tips-mnr
(scroll to bottom and click the CONTACT US link)
Trent-Severn Waterway
2155 Ashburnham Dr,
Peterborough, ON K9L 1P8
(705) 750-4900
ed@trentsevern.com
The more noise we make here the more we will be heard!
Thank you for supporting my efforts, Phil, to Save The Walleye.
MP Jamie Schmale
Hello
Does the Ministry still have slot limit tapes that can be stuck to seats, hulls etc.?
If so can you pls. advise how I can obtain a couple. Thanks in advance.
They keep cutting back. They used to hand these out with licences, but now there aren’t enough rulers printed to accompany licences. Contact the MNRF, and please share their response!