Evidence of meeting #40 for Fisheries and Oceans in the 41st Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was anglers.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Thank you very much.
Ms. Davidson, you get to finish up here today.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Patricia Davidson Conservative Sarnia—Lambton, ON
Thank you very much.
Thanks, gentlemen, for being with us today.
My riding is on Lake Huron, on the St. Clair River in the Great Lakes area.
I have a quick question that I'd like to ask Mr. Farrant.
We talk about restocking and keeping the fish stocks vibrant and at a suitable level, but we know that fish stocking can also cause some problems, with the introduction of aquatic invasive species and so on.
Could you talk a bit about fish stocking and how your organization might be involved with that, and maybe talk about any particular concerns you might have? What are the negative interactions between fish stocking and the native fish communities that we have?
12:55 p.m.
Manager, Government Affairs and Policy, Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
Thank you very much for the question, Ms. Davidson.
You will be aware, given the riding that you represent, that there is an ongoing issue between.... There are nine provincial hatcheries in Ontario, and there are 50 volunteer hatcheries that supplement the efforts of the nine provincial hatcheries stocking fish across Ontario. Lake Huron is one of those areas where fish are stocked. There are a number of volunteer hatcheries on Lake Huron that stock a number of species.
The first nations community, Saugeen Ojibway First Nation, has commercial licences on Lake Huron out of Owen Sound, Colpoys Bay, and areas like that, for whitefish. They do not support the stocking of other species, such as brown, rainbow trout, and salmon because they feel they are an impediment to the whitefish fishery, the commercial fishery. It's been a long-standing point of contention between the recreational fishing community and the first nations in that particular community about stocking.
In general, if you look at the bass fishery in Ontario, it's a huge and very productive fishery, but bass in many lakes are actually an invasive species. They were put there. They were not originally in those lakes.
Having said that, stocking per se is not so much the problem in terms of invasive species; it is the introduction through other means. That's everything from people dumping aquarium plants into lakes and rivers to dumping things like round goby into rivers when they're mistaken for minnows.
Of course, the biggest threat we are facing right now is the potential for Asian carp getting into the Great Lakes through the Chicago sanitary canal. If they ever get into Lake Ontario or Lake Erie, they will spread rapidly, and the recreational fishery, to say nothing of the commercial fishery, will end because they will wipe out species across the five Great Lakes in unprecedented numbers.
It's not so much the introduction through stocking that we see invasive species, but other means, whether it be ballast water or people putting species in where they shouldn't be. However, in terms of stocking pressures, there are some pressures between commercial, particularly aboriginal commercial interests, and stocking of recreational species in Ontario. It's an ongoing debate that has no particular end in sight.
1 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Rodney Weston
Thank you very much.
Thank you, gentlemen, for taking the time to be here today. We certainly do appreciate your coming before this committee and sharing your vast knowledge of the recreational fisheries in Canada.
Once again, on behalf of the committee, thank you very much for being here.
This committee stands adjourned.