- Location
- The Conservative part of Ontario
Long-gone salmon species to populate Lake Ontario once more
Province set to release about 400,000 Atlantic salmon into three watersheds
JAMES RUSK
Lake Ontario will receive a massive restocking of Atlantic salmon in an attempt to return a species of fish to the lake that died out more than a century ago, it was announced yesterday.
Over the past 20 years, the province has added a number of the fish to the lake as part of a restoration plan, and over the next year about 400,000 Atlantic salmon will be released into three Lake Ontario watersheds, David Orazietta, the parliamentary assistant to Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay, told a news conference.
"Atlantic salmon were an important part of the lake's original fish community and a valued resource for first nations people and early settlers in the area.
"Habitat loss doomed the Atlantic salmon, and they disappeared from the lake in the late 1800s," Mr. Orazietta said.
Early efforts to restore the species failed, largely because the streams necessary for spawning and rearing young fish, which stay in the rivers for two to three years before moving into the lake, were severely degraded, according to information on the project.
But ministry research has found that the watersheds have improved enough to support the species, and three watersheds -- the Credit River, Duffins Creek and Cobourg Creek -- were selected for the release.
The salmon are a strain selected from the LaHave River in Nova Scotia and the ministry, which will release millions of young salmon during the next five years, is testing two other strains for evaluation in Lake Ontario.
The fish are predators and the ministry expects that they will live on alewives and rainbow smelt. If the release is successful, they will join rainbow and brown trout and coho and chinook salmon as important sport-fish species in the lake.
Although the intention is that the salmon could be consumed when sufficiently mature, the quantity would be subject to rules that take into consideration the level of pollution in the water.
The initial financing for the project, which includes rehabilitation of the streams selected for the release, will come from a $1.25-million grant from Australian winemaker Banrock Station and $250,000 from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
Much of the work will be done by volunteers from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
Bob Izumi, one of Ontario's best-known fishermen, said that he welcomes the return of Atlantic salmon to the lake.
"It's a phenomenal sport fish, a real fighter," Mr. Izumi said in an interview from Orlando.
"From what I hear, they are spectacular jumpers, very hard fighters. I'd love to catch one. There is a very small population in Lake Ontario, and I have talked to people who have caught them. But I haven't caught one myself."
Mr. Izumi added that the Fishing Forever Foundation, of which he is chairman, will make a six-figure donation to the project over the next few years.
He said that salmon are a marker for improved conditions in the streams and the lake, pointing out that Britons rejoiced recently when the first salmon in a century swam up the Thames River.
Mark Mattson, president of the environmental group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, said he welcomes the private-sector donations to restore the fish, but he said the public should be cautious about the project.
"It's a nice thing to do, but it doesn't mean addressing the real problems or the enormity of the problem on Lake Ontario that we are currently facing, and in some ways, it gets us around them," Mr. Mattson said.
"It makes people think we are doing something positive and worthwhile and the government is involved in restoring the lake, but restoration is a big word. This isn't restoration to us. . . .
"Restoration is going and tackling and dealing with the big issues of the rivers that we've lost, the ones that are unhealthy and unable to host these fish."
Angling for a comeback
Salmon and trout fisheries, supported by stocked and wild fish, account for more than three-quarters of fishing on Lake Ontario. Chinook salmon and rainbow trout are the most commonly caught sport fish on Lake Ontario. In order to help Atlantic salmon make a comeback, stocking of three watersheds will take place as indicated below.
Credit River
May 8, 9, 18 stocking:
125,000 fry
Fall stocking:
50,000 fingerlings
Next spring stocking:
50,000 yearlings
Duffins Creek
May 10, 11 stocking:
60,000 fry
Fall stocking:
25,000 fingerlings
Next spring stocking:
12,500 yearlings
Cobourg Creek
May 16, 17 stocking:
60,000 fry
Fall stocking:
25,000 fingerlings
Next spring stocking:
12,500 yearlings
SOURCE: WWW.BRINGBACKTHE SALMON.CA
Province set to release about 400,000 Atlantic salmon into three watersheds
JAMES RUSK
Lake Ontario will receive a massive restocking of Atlantic salmon in an attempt to return a species of fish to the lake that died out more than a century ago, it was announced yesterday.
Over the past 20 years, the province has added a number of the fish to the lake as part of a restoration plan, and over the next year about 400,000 Atlantic salmon will be released into three Lake Ontario watersheds, David Orazietta, the parliamentary assistant to Minister of Natural Resources David Ramsay, told a news conference.
"Atlantic salmon were an important part of the lake's original fish community and a valued resource for first nations people and early settlers in the area.
"Habitat loss doomed the Atlantic salmon, and they disappeared from the lake in the late 1800s," Mr. Orazietta said.
Early efforts to restore the species failed, largely because the streams necessary for spawning and rearing young fish, which stay in the rivers for two to three years before moving into the lake, were severely degraded, according to information on the project.
But ministry research has found that the watersheds have improved enough to support the species, and three watersheds -- the Credit River, Duffins Creek and Cobourg Creek -- were selected for the release.
The salmon are a strain selected from the LaHave River in Nova Scotia and the ministry, which will release millions of young salmon during the next five years, is testing two other strains for evaluation in Lake Ontario.
The fish are predators and the ministry expects that they will live on alewives and rainbow smelt. If the release is successful, they will join rainbow and brown trout and coho and chinook salmon as important sport-fish species in the lake.
Although the intention is that the salmon could be consumed when sufficiently mature, the quantity would be subject to rules that take into consideration the level of pollution in the water.
The initial financing for the project, which includes rehabilitation of the streams selected for the release, will come from a $1.25-million grant from Australian winemaker Banrock Station and $250,000 from the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
Much of the work will be done by volunteers from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters.
Bob Izumi, one of Ontario's best-known fishermen, said that he welcomes the return of Atlantic salmon to the lake.
"It's a phenomenal sport fish, a real fighter," Mr. Izumi said in an interview from Orlando.
"From what I hear, they are spectacular jumpers, very hard fighters. I'd love to catch one. There is a very small population in Lake Ontario, and I have talked to people who have caught them. But I haven't caught one myself."
Mr. Izumi added that the Fishing Forever Foundation, of which he is chairman, will make a six-figure donation to the project over the next few years.
He said that salmon are a marker for improved conditions in the streams and the lake, pointing out that Britons rejoiced recently when the first salmon in a century swam up the Thames River.
Mark Mattson, president of the environmental group Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, said he welcomes the private-sector donations to restore the fish, but he said the public should be cautious about the project.
"It's a nice thing to do, but it doesn't mean addressing the real problems or the enormity of the problem on Lake Ontario that we are currently facing, and in some ways, it gets us around them," Mr. Mattson said.
"It makes people think we are doing something positive and worthwhile and the government is involved in restoring the lake, but restoration is a big word. This isn't restoration to us. . . .
"Restoration is going and tackling and dealing with the big issues of the rivers that we've lost, the ones that are unhealthy and unable to host these fish."
Angling for a comeback
Salmon and trout fisheries, supported by stocked and wild fish, account for more than three-quarters of fishing on Lake Ontario. Chinook salmon and rainbow trout are the most commonly caught sport fish on Lake Ontario. In order to help Atlantic salmon make a comeback, stocking of three watersheds will take place as indicated below.
Credit River
May 8, 9, 18 stocking:
125,000 fry
Fall stocking:
50,000 fingerlings
Next spring stocking:
50,000 yearlings
Duffins Creek
May 10, 11 stocking:
60,000 fry
Fall stocking:
25,000 fingerlings
Next spring stocking:
12,500 yearlings
Cobourg Creek
May 16, 17 stocking:
60,000 fry
Fall stocking:
25,000 fingerlings
Next spring stocking:
12,500 yearlings
SOURCE: WWW.BRINGBACKTHE SALMON.CA
