Spiel

Sediment will be cleaned up; Baird says government will provide $3.3M to address pollutants in St. Clair River CATHY DOBSON / The Sarnia Observer February 25, 2008 Contaminated sediment along an eight-kilometre stretch of the St. Clair River will finally be cleaned up 23 years after it was identified as a concern, Canada's Environment Minister announced in Sarnia Saturday. John Baird said the federal government is providing $3.3 million to immediately address mercury and other organic pollutants along the shoreline from Dow's property to Corunna. "We are committed not to talk, not to study but to take direct action on environmental remediation," said Baird. He told a crowd of about 75 community leaders gathered at the St. Clair Corporate Centre that he understands that water quality is important to the economy and wellbeing of Sarnia-Lambton residents. "Unfortunately the river is not as healthy as it should be. Urbanization, heavy industry and agriculture have all taken their toll," he said. While studies of the pollutants were done in the 1990s and industry has taken steps to clean up its own contaminants, no government money has been spent on remediation yet. Baird said the $3.3 million is a "starting point". "We can't stop here. To succeed, we need to explore collaboration with provincial and local stakeholders," he said. Baird is announcing several other water remediation projects across Ontario this week but the Harper government's investment in the St. Clair River is one of the largest. The 2007 budget included $18 million for the clean up of seven sites, including the St. Clair River, aid Roger Santiago, a sediment remediation specialist with Environment Canada. He will work with numerous organizations including the Sarnia-Lambton Environmental Association, the province, the Aamjiwnaang and Walpole Island natives to determine the best way to deal with the contaminated sediment. There are numerous pockets of pollutants along the eight-kilometre stretch that will likely require different types of treatment, Santiago said. "Dredging might be involved, we may cap it or let it recover naturally. Those decisions will be made over the next year," he said. Baird said that by 2010 he wants the physical clean-up to start and be completed by 2012. He credited local MPs Pat Davidson and Bev Shipley for advocating for the money and convincing government the St. Clair requires a large investment. "This is wonderful news," Davidson said. "Local industry has stepped up to the plate. Now the federal government is here as well." "It's something we need for our community, for our children and for our future in Sarnia-Lambton." St. Clair Township Mayor Steve Arnold said he believes Ottawa is making the St. Clair River a priority. "This is not a token amount," he said. "I look forward to more funding,"

Family fishing event lures anglers; 'Here fishy fishy,' child calls to icy waters Courtney Whalen / orilliapacket.com February 25, 2008 Four-year-old Travis Moxham was angling to leave Lake Couchiching with more than just time spent in the fresh air and sunshine Saturday afternoon. He had his heart set on a fish. "A really, really big one," he said. The Moxham family, dad Tim, mom Jen, Travis and his little brother Kyle, 2, drove from their home in New Lowell, outside of Barrie, to Orillia for Family Fishing Weekend. The weekend, one of two held in Ontario each year, allows fishing with no licence to promote the sport in the province. The second weekend is being held in July this year. "It's family fishing weekend so it's all legal (for us to be out here)," said Tim Moxham as he and his family trudged out onto Lake Couchiching from Tudhope Park. "This way it gets everybody out." While Travis and Kyle have been out fishing with their dad on Georgian Bay, having to drill through the ice to reach the water was new to them. "It's my first time for ice fishing," said Travis. Once they found a spot, Travis, Kyle and mom Jen watched Tim bore holes in the ice and get them set up for their first winter catch. As his dad helped him bait his hook, Travis' mind settled on a subject important to many children, and adults too. "Do we have snacks?" After being assured there were snacks on hand, Travis settled down to wait for the fish to start to bite. Little brother Kyle was trying a different tack to encourage the fish to bite. "Here fishy fishy," he called into his fishing hole. "It's good to get people out because I wouldn't buy a licence," said Jen of the family fishing weekend. Travis said once the family was done fishing Saturday afternoon they planned to meet his grandma and grandpa for lunch.

Plenty of families take the bait; Family fishing weekend at hit at Callander Bay, Otter Lake Gord Young / North Bay Nugget February 25, 2008 A break in the recent cold spell this weekend was the only bait required to get families hooked on fishing. Both experienced and rookie anglers took to the ice across the area as Ontario marked its annual family fishing weekend when Canadian residents can fish licence-free. The open fishing weekend, coupled with temperatures that hovered just below the freezing mark, lured Ginette and Dean Hamelin out of their heated home for an afternoon with their family on the ice in Callander Bay on Lake Nipissing. "We're meeting my brother and his two friends . . . they're originally from Africa and have never ice fished before," said Ginette, who headed onto the ice with her father, who was lugging an auger, and her husband, who was pulling a sled carrying their two-year-old son, Sebastien. Although the licence-free weekend was an incentive for many occasional and first-time anglers, there were plenty of people among the clusters of ice huts on the lake that would have fished anyway. Organizers estimated nearly 200 people participated Saturday in the Callander Legion's 15th annual ice fishing derby, which happened to coincide with family fishing weekend. "It was a perfect day, but we've always had a good turnout," said Bruce Rodgers, who helped organize the derby. He said plenty of fish were caught. The largest included a 24-inch walleye - just over the slot size - and a 32-inch northern pike. Rick Degans, who travelled from Huntsville with his two young boys to try his hand at catching some Lake Nipissing walleye, wasn't even aware of the licence-free weekend. "They say you can actually catch fish here," said Degans, who apparently hasn't had much luck fishing in the Huntsville area this winter. When his two boys weren't fishing, they were tossing snow and sliding on the ice - a scene repeated countless times throughout the weekend by other children who took to area lakes with their families, including those who participated Saturday in the North Bay Hunters and Anglers perch derby on Otter Lake. "We had a nice sunny day and the wind stayed away until late afternoon," said club president Robert Taylor, noting an estimated 40 people, mostly parents and their children, took part in the event. Taylor said the first derby for the club in recent years was aimed at taking advantage of the licence-free weekend and promoting Otter Lake for outdoor recreational use. Although the fish weren't really biting - only about a dozen were caught, with an eight-inch perch taking the top price - Taylor said the event was a great success. Plenty of prizes were given out but, most importantly, he said the children participating in the event had fun.

....Wouldn't it also be a "fantasy world" where with the stroke of a pen one could reclass a course fish to sport fish? Because a biologist says it so?

....Oh indeed there is Glen. You can find Quinte consumption guidlines here (sections 9, 10 & 11) and the rest of the province available here.

....If the old/used holes are vacant I don't see it as a problem. Also keeping your distance from others already fishing would be prudent. Take along a spud bar if you have one or hatchet/axe to open any holes that may have refroze over night. Welcome to the board.

News Release / Government Takes Action to Help Protect the Bay of Quinte MP Kramp and Norlock Deliver: Trenton, Ontario, February 22, 2008 - Darryl Kramp, Member of Parliament for Prince Edward-Hastings and Rick Norlock, Member of Parliament for Northumberland-Quinte West, on behalf of Canada's Environment Minister John Baird, announced today that the Government of Canada is investing up to $200,000 to help protect and preserve the Bay of Quinte. "Our Government is committed to clean water and clean air, and to delivering results for Canadians," said Mr. Kramp. "Today's action will contribute to safeguarding the health of our families and ensure that we protect and preserve this great Bay of Quinte for the benefit of everyone in our communities." The Government of Canada funding will be used to monitor the waters of the Bay of Quinte and protect its precious ecosystem from contaminated sediment . The four-year monitoring project will begin in 2008 and be completed in 2012. "This important work will contribute to safeguarding the health of our families and protecting the quality of life in our communities," said Mr. Norlock. "Together with support from local stakeholders, we are working toward ensuring a healthy and sustainable future for the citizens in the region who rely on the Bay of Quinte for fishing and recreation." This major investment to clean up the Bay of Quinte is part of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Clean Water. The Government has also taken action to protect water quality, including tough new regulations against the dumping of raw sewage and improving raw sewage treatment in municipalities and first nation communities across Canada. These measures will help filter out substances like phosphates, which can lead to excessive blue-green algae production. Backgrounder, Protecting the Bay of Quinte

News Release / Government of Canada Takes Action to Clean Up the St. Clair River Davidson and Baird Deliver for Sarnia-Lambton SARNIA, Ontario, February 23, 2008 - Canada's Environment Minister, John Baird, and Pat Davidson, Member of Parliament for Sarnia-Lambton, announced today that the Government of Canada is investing up to $3.3 million to clean up the St. Clair River. "Our Government recognizes the need for action to protect and improve the health of Canada's freshwater," said Minister Baird. "Cleaning up contaminated sediment from waterways such as the St. Clair River is good for our communities, our families, and our environment. " Together with the Province of Ontario and in consultation with local stakeholders, the Government of Canada will develop a sediment management strategy for the site. Remedial options could include capping and/or dredging, disposal of contaminated sediment and long-term monitoring. The clean-up project will begin in 2010 and be completed by 2012. "Cleaning up the St. Clair River will benefit not only ecosystem health but also the economies of local communities, including Sarnia and Walpole Island," said Mrs. Davidson. "Together with our local stakeholders, we are working to ensure a healthy and sustainable future for the nearly 170,000 citizens in this area, most of whom rely on the river for drinking water." This major investment to clean up the St. Clair River is part of the Government of Canada's Action Plan for Clean Water. Recently, the Government has also taken action to protect water quality, including tough new regulations against the dumping of raw sewage and improving raw sewage treatment in municipalities and First Nation communities across Canada. These measures will help filter out substances like phosphates, which can lead to excessive blue-green algae production. Backgrounder on the St. Clair River clean-up project.

Fish in a Flash Friday, February 22, 2008 By David Figura / Outdoors editor syracuse.com Rob Goffredo says he took his wife ice fishing and at one point told her to jerk her line even before she felt a fish bite. She laughed at the advice, but it was probably right. The reason? Electronics. Goffredo was using a Vexilar flasher unit to track her lure and any fish coming at it or around it. "Electronics have made ice fishermen far more efficient," said Goffredo, head of the fishing department and pro staffer at Gander Mountain's Cicero store. "Instead of just opening a hole and wondering if there's any fish there, you just lower the transducer in the hole and you know everything that's going on. The depth, whether there's fish, weeds. "It's like playing a video game." Dick Hyde Jr., team leader in the fishing department at the Bass Pro Shops store in the Fingerlakes Mall, said those using electronics while ice fishing on North Bay on Oneida Lake have been "slaughtering" the walleyes this winter. "It won't be like that always, but most guys are getting their limit within an hour," he said. Electronics have been around for several decades, but the current crop of electronic offerings seem to eliminate a lot of the guesswork on the ice. The equipment breaks down to four categories: Flasher units: These devices use flashing lights on a clock-like face to show the water depth, your lure and any fish in the immediate area. It's color-coded, with anything directly beneath the hole appearing in red (including the bottom). Anything nearby is green. As a fish gets closer, the flashing light changes to orange and then red. It's accurate and it's the closest thing to a "real time" image of what's down there Liquid crystal units: These work on the same principle as a fish-finder or depth-finder on a boat. You get a more elaborate picture, with a view of the bottom, contours, fish, etc. - but it's not TV. There's a delay. The fish you see on the screen (if they're swimming) may not actually be there when you lower your lure. The more expensive ones have Global Positioning Satellite features. Hand-held GPS devices:[b/] If you want to remember a previous hot spot or a location you scouted from your boat during warmer weather, just punch in the coordinates. It's another way to eliminate the guesswork. Underwater cameras: You can lower a fish-shaped camera attached to a cable down into the hole and see what's there on a small TV screen. Some use blue and red lights to help you see. Others use infra-red light. Goffredo says sometimes he puts both an underwater camera and a flasher in a hole. He uses the camera with 50 feet of cable to find rock piles, weed lines and bottom structures. "Last Wednesday, I was out for two hours and caught 24 perch," he said. "I credit the Vex. Each time the fish would shut off, I'd simply find them again. I cut 10 holes, caught all 24 out of three." Hyde says the beginner, looking at all the electronic offerings, has some choices to make. "You can get an underwater camera for $99," he said. "When you take children, nothing keeps them more interested than watching the camera and seeing the fish swim around." Hyde said an essential to fishing with electronics, particularly in cold weather, is to bring a spare battery. "Cold weather knocks a battery in the shorts," he said, noting that an eight-hour battery can be reduced to 4-5 hours. Not everyone uses electronics. Bob Bush, of Lyncourt, was out Monday morning fishing the DeRuyter Reservoir and nearly caught his limit of 50 sunnies and bluegills. He was using a chartreuse "dot" lure, tipped with a couple of spikes (tiny grubs). He said he routinely catches his limit of panfish while ice fishing and has never used electronics. It's a matter of just knowing the water you're fishing, Bush said, having fished the same waters during the spring and summer. He's memorized the weed lines, the drop-offs and the rock piles in the lakes he fishes. He said even if you're using electronics, you still have to find the "humps" on the bottom. "I like all the small lakes around here - Tully, Eaton Brook, DeRuyter, Erieville Reservoir, along with Big Bay on Oneida Lake," he said. "My father used to say 90 percent of the fish are in 10 percent of the water." Bush conceded that a lot of times he goes out and cuts a lot of "dry" holes in the ice. "They may be on one weed line today, and another tomorrow," he said.

Thanks Raf, I've learned something today. I actually have no idea where the damns are but there was a set of falls I could have gone over in the Dry Pine Bay area if'n I weren't careful. I suppose that led me to believe I was on the upper. That was some 26 years ago and It's still fairly clear in my mind but don't ask me what I did yesterday....lol

....Spectacular, you done well young man.

....Beautiful !

....Good stuff Craig. I had hoped to be able to attend but by the time my fatherly commitments were filled it was to late. Praps next year.

...Way cool, I like how quickly that ling blasted skyward.

....Indeed a great day to be out on the ice, not stuck at home. Thanks for the pics Wayne and terrific fish you got there Cliff.

....Wow, Rick Mercer standing with a well known celebrity. Thanks Lew, I thought that was the generating station on the right, due to the building actually. Just couldn't remember the name.

How many choices are there?

....Boooooooooooooooooooooooooo I mean way to go Wayne.

....I only see one stack, how much you had?

....I've actually spent more time ice fishing Owen Sound just because it's closer but yes I've had success on Colpoys for whities.

....Welcome to the board. As someone who enjoys ice fishing on Colpoys I'll give you this advice, take a boat.

....Well on this point I must disagree. Whitefish (freshwater whitefish are fish of the subfamily Coregoninae in the family Salmonidae which includes the freshwater and anadromous trout and salmon species) are a native species and in no way are comparable to carp (large member of the minnow family). They prefer cold or cool waters and are not destructive to the enviroment. They do not have "sucker mouths" but rather a small under slung mouth below a rounded snout. I can also attest to them being active top water feeders (great on the dryfly) and suspending, not always the bottom sucking type fish they are often perceived to be. The bodies are elongated and latererally compressed and they also sport an adipose fin common to the salmonidae family. Suffice to say other than moderately large scales they in no way are comparable to carp. As for leaving them on the ground to rot, it will solve nothing.

Two area lakes integral to power generating idea By Valerie MacDonald / northumberlandtoday.com February 23, 2008 An engineer and writer is contacting local chambers of commerce and area politicians, including Port Hope Mayor Linda Thompson, about an idea to generate hydro-electric power using the height differential between Rice Lake and Lake Ontario. Harry Valentine, 48, of Cornwall, Ont., is promoting construction of a "pipeline or tunnel" between the two lakes. Lake Ontario is 368 feet below the surface of Rice Lake, he stated, and this is the key to his "pumped storage hydraulics" solution to Ontario's need for more power. Essentially, water from Lake Ontario would be pumped up to Rice Lake during the night when the need and cost of power is lowest. It would make Rice Lake rise by a foot. When power is needed by 6 a.m. the next day and the demand raises the cost of power, the water would flow downhill through the same pumps, which now become turbines generating electricity to be added to the power grid. Rice Lake would return to its previous level, Mr. Valentine said. "It may be possible to generate up to 1,000 megawatts of electric power for two cycles of four hours each during the morning and evening, when demand for electricity is at its peak," Mr. Valentine wrote in an e-mail outlining the project. A technical article Mr. Valentine said he is preparing for the Ontario Waterpower Association - an advocacy group for Ontario's waterpower industry and headquartered in Toronto - will outline how this 20-kilometre pipeline or tunnel could be created on the east side of Port Hope and the east side of Bewdley. It could be closer to Cobourg, however, he noted. He chose the Port Hope illustration because it is the closest distance to link the two lakes. If the project were to go forward, the pipe would go "wherever it is possible to negotiate land," he said. There is one such facility at Niagara Falls, Mr. Valentine said in an interview this week, but many in the U.S. are using this system creating about 23,000 mw of power, in fact, more than Ontario's current power capacity. Mr. Valentine said he has contacted the offices of Port Hope Mayor Linda Thompson, Northumberland-Quinte West MPP Lou Rinaldi, and the Northumberland Central Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Rinaldi said his office receives a lot of advice about how to achieve different things and he was unaware of this particular proposal. The environmental impact of lowering and raising water levels is an issue that Mr. Rinaldi immediately flagged. Rice Lake is already controlled through the Trent system, he added. "This sounds like a pie in the sky project," he said. But, he added, it could be of value. Chamber manager Kevin Ward said he was investigating the information Mr. Valentine provided to the chamber. Mayor Thompson has been unavailable to comment and Hamilton Township Mayor Mark Lovshin was unaware of Mr. Valentine's proposal. Several township councillors at this week's council meeting were surprised by the idea and Coun. Pat McCourt predicted there would be quite a response by township residents to such an idea. Cobourg Mayor Peter Delanty, a member of the Great Lakes mayors' organization, expressed concern about piping water out of any of the Great Lakes. Water diversion is one of the group's major issues. But, he added, "I'd really have to look at it." No information had been provided to his office about Mr. Valentine's proposal, Mayor Delanty said.

It's cold outside, but Lake Superior is getting warmer By Ron Way / minnpost.com Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2008 DULUTH — Lake Superior is undergoing sudden increases in its water temperatures and dramatic declines in its lake levels, prompting scientists and others to wonder: Is the world's largest fresh water lake in the throes of irreversible change due to global warming? A broad new study is being readied in an attempt to figure that out. Years of much warmer winter temperatures — especially overnight lows — has resulted in dwindling ice cover that allows more evaporation of lake water into dry, cold air, said Jay Austin, a limnologist with the Large Lake Observatory in Duluth. He said less ice is likely aggravating summertime lake temperatures and even causing more evaporative summer winds across the lake surface that, combined with a prolonged regional drought, may have the lake in a cascading "feedback" of change-provoking-change from which recovery may be impossible. There's no doubt the lake is warming, a result of climate change and three years of drier than normal weather. But with regard to near- and long-term lake levels, Austin said precipitation rates are difficult to assess in climate change models, and Superior's level could stabilize if rainfall and snow are sufficient to off-set increased evaporation. Austin is seeking funding support to examine what's driving changes in the lake and to develop forecasts of what the lake may be like in 50 years or more. Foot below 'historic average' Last August, Superior was within an inch of its 1926 record low, set after a years-long regional drought (it preceded the more famous Dust Bowl drought of the 1930s). And while last fall's unprecedented three-month rainy period prompted a 17-inch rebound of the lake's level, Superior remains a foot below what's considered its "historic average." A foot of water in the expansive Lake Superior is enough to supply the residential needs of every Minnesotan for 42 years. Austin said that Superior has been warming since 1980, and the worrisome part is that the rate of water warming has exceeded the rate of warming of surrounding air. Lower lake levels complicate commercial shipping, requiring sea-going vessels to carry hundreds of tons less cargo in and out of the Port of Duluth-Superior. It has also affected recreational boaters, especially sailors whose crafts have six- to eight-foot keels that now scrape bottom in marinas and encounter more rocks in near-shore areas. To accommodate boaters visiting historic lighthouses scattered around the South Shore archipelago of the Apostle Islands Lakeshore, the National Park Service in Bayfield, Wis., has constructed special additions to docks that now sit higher than the lower-riding boats. "There has been a 12 percent decline in cargo carried by ships due to lower lake levels," said Glen Nekvasil of the Lake Carriers' Association that represents Great Lakes commercial shippers. A 1,000-foot "laker" carrying iron ore or Western coal out of Duluth essentially loses one cargo hold, Nekvasil said from his Cleveland office. For example, he said, last November a large "laker" loaded to 63,000 tons while it normally would carry 72,000 tons. Lisa Marciniak of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority estimates an additional 25 to 30 ships were required in 2006 to haul equivalent cargo when Lake Superior was at its historic average. To address shallower harbors around the Great Lakes and through the St. Mary's River that connects Superior with other Great Lakes, Nekvasil said, the U.S. Corps of Engineers will receive an added $50 million this year (increasing to $140 million), mostly for extra dredging because of the lower water. Life in the lake While lake levels affect what moves on Lake Superior, the water levels and warming affects what lives in Superior. "This winter has been somewhat colder than the last few years, but not much colder," Austin said, noting that lake temperatures have increased 4.5 degrees since 1980. "That may not sound like much to a swimmer or a sailor," Austin said. "But that rate of change over a few short years is significant to fish and plankton." One early victim may be populations of native whitefish — long a diner's delicacy — living in Superior's cold, deep water. "Whitefish eggs are in near-shore areas normally protected by ice cover," said Tom Hrabik, a fisheries biologist at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. He said intermittent ice break-up over winter along with early spring ice-out can destroy eggs before they hatch. But the effect most feared by Hrabik is that warming will provide "a thermal refuge" for unwanted exotics, including the round goby (a small but aggressive bottom-dwelling fish that displaces native species), carp, eel and cool-water zebra mussels. He said Superior's cold water has been an effective buffer against invasions of exotics. Overall, Hrabik said, a suddenly warmer lake will change a variety of fish behavior patterns that have been established over thousands of years, and the result likely won't be good for the popular whitefish and lake trout. 'It is not good' So how does a relatively small change of a degree or two or air temperature cause a "significant" change of four to five degrees in the lake? That's what Austin wants to examine with his planned study. But he offered a likely scenario: Warmer overnight lows in winter reduces ice and exposes more of the lake to cold, dry temperatures resulting in more rapid evaporation. Lack of spring ice causes earlier warming of surface waters that lately have heated to "surprising" summertime levels (one mid-lake buoy in 2006 measured 75 degrees at the surface for a comparatively long period of several days). Less differential between lake surface temperatures and the air brings winds from aloft down to the surface (Austin says winds are up 25 to 30 percent), and the warm winds cause summertime evaporation when previously the lake was so cold that none occurred in summer. Warmer surface water results in later ice formation and also thinner ice that is subject to intermittent breakup throughout winter. And so the "feedback" process feeds itself. Nekvasil and Marciniak expressed hope that current lower lake level is a short-lived and Superior will rebound, as it did following the record low of 1926. And that may be the case if precipitation amounts increase across the Great Lakes Basin to off-set evaporation losses. So far that hasn't happened. "Lower lakes cost our members because of reduced cargoes and increased trips," Nekvasil said. "It is not good." As a scientist, Austin wouldn't call the observed changes good or bad. "I would say that Lake Superior could be a in a period of seeking a new stability," Austin said.

....While it has been some time since I fished Dry Pine Bay I think it's part of the upper French River (main channel). It's in the area south of Alban on the map. The lower being west of HWY#69. And while I certainly don't condone keeping any sturgeon in the Nipissing region I don't think those pictures show lots of killing. Like the other pictures on the site there are many duplicates. I think in all those shots we're seeing three sturgeon. From the 2008 regs.... Lake Nipissing - ncluding the waters of the French River from the Chaudière and the Little Chaudière dams to Lake Nipissing; the west bay of Lake Nipissing in Haddo Twp.; the northwest bay of Lake Nipissing to the falls of MacPherson Creek; the Sturgeon River from Lake Nipissing to the dam at Sturgeon Falls; the Veuve River from Lake Nipissing to the chutes located in Lot 5 in Conc. l in Caldwell Twp.; the South River from Lake Nipissing to Highway 654; and the entire West Arm of Lake Nipissing including Cross Lake. / Lake sturgeon closed all year. Now if I could just find a copy of the old regs. I think he also needs to bone up on his facts.... "They have different names. People call them Lake Sturgeon and River Sturgeon but the proper name is White Sturgeon." White Sturgeon....Acipenser transmontanus Lake Sturgeon....Acipenser fulvescens