Culling and Upgrading Illegal In Ontario

[rufus]

from "Ask the MNR" -

 

Answer from the MNR:

 

You are right. Culling, stringer sorting, high-grading,….call it what you wish is not a legal practice under Ontario Fishery Regulations which say “…no person…shall catch and retain in any day or at any time possess….more fish of a species…” While you are OK from the perspective of ‘possession’, you have “caught and retained” more than a limit on that day.

 

 

This includes tournaments of course where this rule is regularly broken.

 

 

[Canuck2fan]

Actually anyone who reads the regs would know this it is pretty clearly spelled out LOL. You can cull in certain situations with a live well which is also very clearly stated in the regs.

 

Generally, daily catch limits include all fish that are retained for any period of time and not immediately released.

 

"Anglers fishing from a boat may now catch, hold and selectively live release, more walleye, northern pike, largemouth or smallmouth bass than the daily limit, provided:

 

(a) the fish are held in a livewell with a mechanical aerator operating at all times.

 

A livewell is a compartment designed to keep fish alive. For a livewell to be used to selectively release bass, walleye and northern pike, it must be attached to or form part of a boat, hold a total volume of not less than 46 litres (10 gallons) of water, have the capacity for water exchange and be mechanically aerated at all times when live fish are being held in it.

 

( the fish comply with any applicable size limits.

 

© the Sport or Conservation Fishing Licence daily catch and retain limits for walleye or northern pike are not exceeded at any one time.

 

(d) no more than six largemouth or smallmouth bass (or any combination) caught under a sport fishing licence are retained at any one time, and,

 

(e) the Conservation Fishing Licence catch and retain limits for largemouth and smallmouth bass (or any combination) are not exceeded at any one time.

 

Anglers are reminded to closely monitor the condition of fish held in a livewell. Only fish that are in such a condition that they will survive may be released. Releasing a fish that will not survive and allowing the flesh of that fish to be wasted is an offence. Any fish not live-released are part of your daily catch and retain limit."

Edited September 2, 2012 by Canuck2fan

[G.mech]

from "Ask the MNR" -

 

Answer from the MNR:

 

You are right. Culling, stringer sorting, high-grading,….call it what you wish is not a legal practice under Ontario Fishery Regulations which say "…no person…shall catch and retain in any day or at any time possess….more fish of a species…" While you are OK from the perspective of 'possession', you have "caught and retained" more than a limit on that day.

 

 

This includes tournaments of course where this rule is regularly broken.

 

 

 

This answer was posted to a question asked in 1999 and is obviously outdated info. The current regs are clear about how to cull certain species of fish using your livewell. Here is the link to the original question from 1999:

 

 

 

http://www.outdooron...mnrfaqfish.html

Edited September 2, 2012 by G.mech