Giving back to the lake

Spiel · April 11, 2009

Giving back to the lake

Local volunteers stock Lake Ontario with thousands of fish

April 8th, 2009

When Bruce Burt catches a Chinook salmon, it’s likely that he’s looking at a fish he helped raise.

The Ajax fisherman is one of about 60 volunteers who help fill Lake Ontario with tens of thousands of fish every year.

Most people outside the angling community assume salmon and other fish naturally reproduce and keep their numbers up, but it actually takes a lot of time and hard work to ensure local waters are well stocked.

“I really enjoy fishing, and this is a way of giving back to the sport,” said Mr. Burt, vice-president of Metro East Anglers (MEA). “It also helps the environment and it helps the fishing industry.”

It all starts at the Ringwood Fish Culture Station, just north of Stouffville.

The hatchery used to be run by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, but when the Province ran out of funding a few years ago, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters took it over with the help of dozens of volunteers.

Every fall, volunteers head out to the Credit River in Mississauga, where they catch Chinook salmon and milk them for their eggs.

The eggs are then taken back to the hatchery where they are fertilized. About eight weeks later the eggs hatch and the tiny fish are put in tanks and carefully fed and monitored until they’re ready for their spring debut.

“People really like the idea of creating something, they start with these eggs and six months later they’re releasing fish,” said Andy Rubaszek, operations co-ordinator at Ringwood. “Some of our volunteers fish, but some don’t at all. They just want to do something to help the lake.”

This weekend, volunteers carefully transferred thousands of Chinook to locations along Lake Ontario, including the Whitby Marina.

The fish were placed in special pens in the water, where they will stay for another six weeks, before being released into the lake.

Mr. Burt said the pens allow the fish to gradually get used to the lake water after spending their early weeks in the pristine spring water at the hatchery, and also give them a chance to be “imprinted” with the scent of Lynde Creek and Whitby Harbour, so that when they reach maturity, they will return to their home stream to spawn.

This year, the Ringwood project will stock Lake Ontario with 540,000 Chinook salmon, 50,000 Coho salmon, 60,000 Atlantic salmon and 20,000 rainbow trout.