Walleye egg collection on Nipissing

[kickingfrog]

http://www.nugget.ca/2016/04/30/everybodys-interest-is-best-served-by-conservation

 

 

The best way to ensure the health of the Lake Nipissing fishery is by getting all affected parties to work toward the same goal.

That’s the opinion of Scott Nelson, president of the Lake Nipissing Stewardship Association. He was one of about a dozen people at Wasi Falls Friday, gathering eggs to take back to the association’s fish hatchery to give them a better chance to thrive.

The stewardship association, Nipissing First Nation and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry were working together on the project to keep tabs on the health of the fishery. The ministry has been carrying out a survey on the spawning grounds since 1968.

The target of the association is to harvest about two million eggs, but they only got about 400,000 Friday. That means they’ll be back over the next few days to try to improve the harvest.

Once the eggs hatch, in about 14 to 28 days, the fry will be returned to the lake. Members of the association estimate the survival rate of hatchery-hatched fry is about 80 per cent, compared to less than 20 per cent in the wild.

Nipissing First Nation also will collect some eggs – they’re aiming for about 200,000 – which will be taken to the hatchery in Garden Village.

“It’s really small scale,” Clint Couchie, natural resource manager for Nipissing First Nation, said. “About four females. That’s what we would need for that number.”

A big part of this harvest, Couchie said, is providing an educational program for residents of Nipissing First Nation. He said school groups will be invited to visit over the next few weeks before the fry develop “to see what goes on in the process,” and also to let people see how much work is involved in running a hatchery.

Couchie said he doesn’t want the eggs to hatch in-house.

The problem the groups ran into Friday is that “the females are slow to come in,” Couchie said.

The groups netted a couple dozen young males, but only a few females, ministry management biologist Kim Tremblay said.

“We’re getting a lot of young males – first-time spawners,” she said.

They had already sampled about a thousand males, but “the females are just starting to show up now.”

Tremblay said it’s still too early to make any predictions, but what she is hoping to see is some first-time spawning females show up.

“We want to see the larger year classes. We’re hoping to see some six-year females,” she said.

Nelson said he understands and agrees with the ministry’s position that stocking the lake isn’t the answer.

“We have to control the harvest,” he said. “Everybody is looking to improve the fishery on Lake Nipissing, and the truth is, historically, we have been over-harvesting the lake. Recently, we have been getting all the participants together to figure out what is best for the lake.”

The collaborative effort on display Friday, Nelson said, is promising for the lake.

“Everybody’s interest is best served by conservation,” he said. “That’s the best way to ensure a sustainable harvest and a healthy fishery.”

All the fish netted during the survey are tagged, and anyone catching a tagged fish is asked to call the number on the tag and report the tag number and location of the catch.

[Rod Caster]

beautiful. Keep it up everyone.

[wkrp]

Good news for a change.

[Scott S]

Nice to here for a change. Hope this keeps going!!

[Steelheadphycho]

I love that lake and all I want to see is everyone's efforts WORK!

 

Go Nip GO!

[netminder]

I've wanted to fish Nip for a long time but keep hearing all these horror stories, so I've avoided it. Hopefully this rehab process works and I'll be able to get out there to enjoy it to its full potential.

[Joeytier]

I've wanted to fish Nip for a long time but keep hearing all these horror stories, so I've avoided it. Hopefully this rehab process works and I'll be able to get out there to enjoy it to its full potential.

Yeah,Nip is a dead zone, you'd better just stay away

[netminder]

Yeah,Nip is a dead zone, you'd better just stay away

Point taken