LNSA_

They're at it again! It's not just commercial netting, but wasteful irresponsible personal gill netting of a species at risk on Lake Nipissing! Check this story out. Weekly, we seem to be getting these news flashes. Would somebody in the govt. please recognize this and DO SOMETHING!!? http://www.baytoday.ca/content/news/details.asp?c=79605

Thanks Mister G. BTW, the Govt. only responds to interest. If people threaten to walk away, it only sends the message that this issue isn't important enough to stick around and fight for. I do realize though that this isn't as close to home for some as it is for others and, if you're an avid fisherman, why WOULD you want to stay where the fishery isn't supported? I hear you. We ARE between a rock and a hard place. Thanks Double Header for your support! Any donations are appreciated, just shoot us an email to [email protected] to make the arrangements. Once again, Thank you!

Lew, I saw more muskies this spring during my West Arm spawning site survey than ever before! You're in for a great season, dude! Trust me!

Thanks Aplumma. Yes, I'll put a link to the article where ever it winds up. Mister G, I agree with you. Problem is...the MNR isn't divulging their 'secret' motive and therefore we are still waiting after 2 decades to see their 'management plans bear fruit. So far we've all been disappointed with their efforts as Nipissing's current state illustrates. I suppose it's something that the MNR couldn't exactly come right out and say publically either if this was the case. To that end, yes, restocking would be counter productive. It's just real tough to watch lodges and related tourist businesses fall like dominoes while the MNR acts unilaterally and clandestinely behind the scenes. The restocking avenue though would at least put fish on everyone's plate and possibly bring everyone together in time to take part in the putting and not just the taking, until we can come to a more equitable solution to the problem. Check out Tory Fisher's petition to the NFN on Google. He's pushing for a complete eradication of commercial fishing on Nipissing. Let's give it time and let it happen. They also want Bob Goulais elected as the next Chief. I've spoken with Bob Goulais regarding his 6 point plan to stoop gill netting on Nipissing. Go to www.bobgoulais.com and hear what this guy has to say. It'll be an older post from early a few years ago. It's more than any of us would ever hope for or expect from that community but he's trying to make it happen through his own means. He made it clear, albeit politely, that we are not to intervene in his process. Interesting stuff. Politically and scientifically, I think restocking is the way to go...for right now. The lake doesn't HAVE to die to resolve the issue in my opinion.

BTW, I'll be writing an article for the up coming issue of The Nipissing Reader all about the virtues vs. the issues with restocking. I'll be working with Scott Nelson the statistics guy, and Gary Preston, head of our restocking team and Nipissing fisheries historian, on this. BTW, Scott is a tireless researcher (not to mention busy lodge owner) and has attended several seminars across the province on the latest walleye restocking techniques and success data. It'll be a compelling read and I hope a few of those stewing MNR people at least give it a read. Watch for it in mid June! Danny C.

Again, thank you to everyone for their support! We have one good kick at the can here! Nipfisher, you said it! Lew, we have to keep our muskies fed now, right? MisterG, all good points! The guys netting Nip aren't interested in money. Maybe it has something to do with the land claim settlement they got 3 or 4 years ago. They are exercising their treaty rights...period. it's their way of life and they'll hear none of the options. We've offered to help set up their own hatchery. They refused indignantly. They're still hurtin from the events of this past century and when you read a bit of that history, you'd sympathize too. That being said, it doesn't make what's going on with the ghost nets or the fish dumps anywhere near acceptable. Gill nets kill indiscriminately where hook lines or trap nets would be a much more humane and eco-friendly method of commercial fishing ...if it has to be done at all. Regarding the mortality rate of released fry....the DNR and their affiliates south of the border discovered a little trick that raised the survival rate of fry drastically! They simply released them over deep water, far away from the shorelines where most predation occurs that time of the year. It really works! As for fingerlings....we'd love to raise and stock fingerlings....and we have to a much lesser degree. It also means getting the permits from the MNR. Heck, they're barely letting us do the minimum and effectively shut us down this past spring. That's what this petition is all about! We're also asking for an official apology from the Minister for his false allegations that we over harvested our quota of eggs last season. We don't for the life of us know where they got that idea from but it's pure Bull, probably concocted by some sulking MNR employee who didn't like the tone of the LNSA when we suggested they're not doing their research on restocking. Let's get on top of this. Let's tell the Minister what we think and what we know!

Thanks aplumma! It's funny to admit this but the LNSA now has more money than the MNR will let us spend! That's the problem! We just want to get on with the restocking. Thanks to everyone who has signed the petition so far! It's all for your benefit too, not just the lodges. I like to think we are ALL Lake Nipissing Stakeholders. best fishes, Dan

BTW, I don't know if anyone caught on but I'm not even a walleye fisherman per se. I'm a musky guide. I still feel this is a good cause worth getting behind and maybe it's the dogmatic GMA (good musky attitude) that keeps me running with it. It works for muskies, that's for sure! Danny Colomby / Nipissing Muskies Guide Service/LNSA Executive Member

Thanks Parnelly! We're up to 260+ signatures and climbing! Our local MP is waiting to see how we do and is prepared to take this petition personally and put it in the hands of the Minister. Thank you for your support.

BTW, I just visited the Ontario Out Of Doors forum to see how we were doing on their site. I invite you to take a look for yourselves. Also, I'd like to stand in support of Tory Fisher, a young NFN resident who has started his own petition against reckless harvesting of Lake Nipissing. Ye of little faith?......Believe!

I'm sad to hear you've given up the fight Musky or Specks and to a certain degree I can't blame you. That used to be my M.O. too... until I realized that all it did was give me gas and float a perpetual black cloud over my head all day. It was then that I had an epiphany and chose to make my own change instead of waiting for the rest of the world to go first. And ya know what? It's working! But don't take my word for it. Wait a few years and maybe you'll read about it in a history book.

Oh and one last thing...... Believe it or not, commercial fishing and sportfishing could successfully exist on Nipissing....IF the commercial netting was properly regulated just like the sport fishery is regulated (over regulated in my opinion but that's just the MNR exercising the only authority they have.) We need one regulatory body, not two. I think the MNR is trying to jockey itself into position to be that one authority but in doing so they are making an absolute mess of the political landscape while seemingly doing nothing for the ecosystem. The LNSA was formed by a small group of frustrated stakeholders who stepped up to 'get it done' while the govt. sectors battled out their problems in the back ground. Something had to be done and we did it...and we're still doing it....and it HAS made a difference. Callander Bay always has walleye and thankfully no netting is going on there. Nipissing is a potential walleye factory! It's all about management.

Hi Steve.. Nobody's asking for tax dollars. We are the LNSA...a group of volunteers, made up of you and I, who have raised more money than we are allowed to spend because the MNR won't allow it! We started this blog to rally people to sign a petition that will be sent to the Ontario Government asking them to essentially call off their guard dogs at the MNR and let us do our job. We don't need their money nor their labor force. We simply need their signature on a license that would allow us to not only resume the restocking we've been doing for many years, but also to up the number of eggs we'd be allowed to harvest and propagate. We have the knowledge and the means to open 10 hatcheries around the lake and manage them all successfully on our own (without the MNR). Nipissing was built on restocking back in the 1920s when both commercial and sport fishing decimated the blue walleye population. The Port Carling yellow walleye strain was brought in and aggressively stocked which resulted in one of the best walleye fisheries in the province by the 1980s. The real battle is with the North Bay MNR office who has driven away their best biologists, gutted their Conservation Office to a skeleton crew, removed Nipissing's fishery assessment sector, and bullied us into having to forfeit restocking this year through false allegations of over harvesting more than our 2 million allowed quota of eggs. The Minister himself Bill Mauro publicly announced this without investigating where the info was coming from and whether or not it was actually true. The truth is we harvested just over 1.8 million last year and it might have been more had it not been for some nightly spearing of our site by out of town metis and native groups who were caught, fined, and had their spears and 70 fish confiscated. A few 'local' natives had invited their out of town guests and those individuals were not charged under treaty rights. Chief Couchie attempted to resolve that sort of issue this spring by banning spearing. Too little too late though as the MNR basically shut us down for reasons we're still trying to figure out...hence the petition. The root of all these problems has stemmed from the Provincial Government's pulling of funds to the North bay MNR, leaving that office with few resources to do their job. Why? Because nobody is speaking up and saying...Hey! We live here! What are you doing?!

You're doing it again. Do NOT lump all natives into one group! If you truly care about this topic,then please read my last response again carefully and with an open mind. I live here and I have my thumb on the pulse of what's going on. There's no Samsung Solar project here ...it's all about fishing rights for a select group WITHIN the NFN. I understand where you're coming from but we have to resist the urge to make sweeping statements about all natives or we'll NEVER solve this thing. It's NOT about money with the Nipissing gill netters! We've spoken with them. I know some of them personally. They've been offered and they refused defiantly. They've been offered more equitable solutions but have refused because fishing is their way of life and they have treaty rights to do so. And it's not that entire community either...it's a stubborn smaller group WITHIN the community. It's quick responses like yours that will KEEP those native communities digging in their heels. Don't you get what we're trying to do here?

BTW, I thought I should add my hopes for the efforts we put forth: 1) I'm hoping that the Provincial Govt. will be made aware of the gross mismanagement of Lake Nipissing's fishery over the past few decades and will at least come to the table through open moderated dialogue to talk about the impact to our community. 2) I'm hoping to show our angling community at large that we've put our best foot forward and have actually attempted to do something to save our fishery and in doing so, would demonstrate to everyone that something CAN be done, even if it's not the ultimate solution. The fish we restock are not just for the interests of us lodge owners either. You are welcome to trailer your boat up for a day and take walleye for yourself without supporting the local economy. Consider it a gift from our Nipissing community...to you. 3) I'm sincerely hoping that some day we can all share the lake and all contribute equally to restoring and replenishing her stocks for ALL to enjoy. There are good GOOD people in the native communities who DON'T deserve the flack they're getting on these sites! They are the ones quietly lobbying within their own communities to have the gill netting regulated if not banned altogether. Did you know that? Please hear this! Please don't keep bashing the natives as a group! I believe one day we will all get together on this situation and help each other to get what each of us needs and we'll do it cooperatively, I know it!! The unregulated gill netting and poaching problem belongs largely to an isolated group of stalwarts acting unilaterally, with only themselves in consideration. Chief Marianna Couchie not only continued her netting ban during the spawn but also banned spearing this spring also, in an attempt to help the situation. It's as start. It shows intention. Unfortunately, neither the MNR or the NFN have the means to police these bans. We can thank our Provincial Govt. for pulling funds and creating policies that fostered this sad situation. Please DO NOT let inflammatory remarks from native blog responses set you off! These responses are only coming from a small group of racist individuals that are so deeply mired in their hate that they can't see the forest for the trees. You'll never win an argument with one of them so don't even waste your time. Instead, let's acknowledge those 'native' and Metis individuals who do want to provide for their families in generations to come and who want to take the same road as we are to reach that point. Also know that there is much turmoil within these communities where some are actually afraid for their lives to say how they really feel! Did you know that? Life ain't so simple as one would think. I applaud those particular native bloggers for their courage! Like us, they're trying to actually make a difference and my heart goes out to you! The answer in any case is for someone to take the first step and do the right thing! The netters can HAVE the fish that we restock....with my blessings! Remember, I'm one of the volunteers who is putting in my hours to restock those fish, and I'm saying, (not you sitting on your couch).....I'M saying to them that they can HAVE the fish! There'll be fish for us too and I'm not worried. I hope that in taking this stance that they might come to know in time that we put those fish there...for EVERYONE....and that eventually they might see that we are not so bad and maybe they might soften THEIR stance and actually join the effort themselves some day. We've offered to help the NFN set up their own hatchery but unfortunately the 'native/non-native' divide is still apparently too wide at this point in history for them to even consider a joint venture. They've suffered much in the past at the hands of our government (which is not US....but they don't acknowledge that yet). IF you are one of the non-native faction who finds yourself holding a hate grudge against natives, I urge you to read a bit of history about their treatment.....and weep! And in NO WAY am I using this argument to excuse the ghost nets and the fish dumps. Pointing a finger is NOT the answer, no matter how justified we feel. Trust me on this.It's complicated. Once again...it IS the government we are lobbying here. The government has become something il-representative of our voice and our needs. THAT'S THE PROBLEM! The 'us and them' is really the govt vs. us, NOT the natives vs. us. The GOVERNMENT made the bad policies that led to all this @#$p, not us. I never agreed to it. You never agreed to it. I didn't specifically vote for it. The government policies ARE the problem. When we get THAT straightened out, the rest will fall into line real quickly. Please sign the petition!