Lake Nipissing Summit

Article found in today's news:


A full house is expected to attend the 2nd annual Lake Nipissing Summit, although those interested can still register to attend the event at Canadore College Thursday and Friday.

It should prove interesting with stakeholders and leaders of communities around the lake participating.

The Ministry of Natural Resources is scheduled to make a presentation about the fishing community at large in the afternoon of the first day.

They follow Scott Nelson, owner of Glen Echo Cottages, who will discuss the economics of the lake, while Richard Rowe, of FRi Ecological Services reviewing current walleye management.

And Fred Bellefeuille, a lawyer with the Union of Ontario Indians, will talk about the rights of non-natives, with Clint Couchie of Nipissing First Nation describing their management model.

On Friday morning, a plenary panel of experts are expected to hold a “courageous conversation” on the future of Lake Nipissing, with “issues and obstacles” tackled using group break-out roundtables.

An action plan will be formulated in the afternoon.

Last year, presentations were made by the MNR about how water levels are managed and the Ministry of Environment talked about water quality monitoring. Also highlighted were the issues surrounding various invasive species, along with research data indicating that spawning-size walleye were decreasing although the number of young walleye were increasing.

The impact of the commercial fishing and non-native angling (summer and winter) were debated as well.

Since then, the MNR cut the possession limit of walleye to two from four, while keeping the slot regulation to protect spawning size fish. And it has begun a review to formulate a 20-year management plan with public meetings held in North Bay and Sturgeon Falls last week.

It has ruled out elevated restocking programs or culling the growing cormorant populations, which were raised as potential ways to assist walleye regeneration and reduce non-human pressures.

Online registration for this free event can be done at www.lakenipissingsummit.ca or by calling Tina at 705-476-5044. The event is being held in the Canadore Room and lunch will be provided on both days.

Should be an interesting meeting. If you see any articles posted after the meetings please post these as well if you don't mind.

You think they will be serving walleye for lunch.

Thanks
FatRap

I would love to go but am working nights till saturday.. ARG

Article in response to Day 1 of the Summit.....read this carefully folks...if you do any fishing on Nipissing, this is something you should be in the know on...


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NORTH BAY - The winter walleye harvest was higher this year despite reduced daily catch limits on sport fishing in January by the province, according to the Nipissing First Nation fisheries.

“The reduction in the limit hasn't worked,” said its natural resources manager Clint Couchie.

Nipissing First Nation eliminated its quota for its commercial fishery this year in favour of a system that reassess the fishery every time 5,000 kilograms of walleye are caught by working with a biologist to determine if they need to alter their catch limit.

“If we feel that we're getting into a high-risk area, that's the time we can make proposals and comments to the chief and council and the decision will be theirs,” Couchie told the opening day of the second annual Lake Nipissing Summit.

The summit heard the commercial fishery last year set a quota of 36,000 kg and instead harvested 26,000 kg. The First Nation currently estimates it can harvest between 17,000 kg to 21,000 kg to remain sustainable.

The summer walleye season opens later this month, and Couchie suggested better information and tracking of sport fishing is needed now and throughout the summer instead of waiting to analyze data at the end of the season when it could be too late.

Couchie said the First Nation is projecting the sport fishing harvest will be higher than what is sustainable for the lake, and he urged other groups to make the same adjustments as the fishery to protect the walleye population.

First Nations should set their own management numbers to meet their needs, said Nipissing First Nation resident Fred Bellefeuille, a lawyer who has been involved with treaty claims and speaks on aboriginal self government.

The Robinson-Huron Treaty signed in 1850 guarantees that if the walleye catch must be reduced, then the needs of the First Nation fishery supercede sport fishing and should only be shut down as a last resort for conservation purposes.

The summit heard many of the groups involved with recreation and protection of Lake Nipissing have the same goals in mind. The purpose of the event is to raise awareness about issues facing the lake and find ways to work together toward a solution.

The summit heard concerns about the use of gill nets and whether some anglers circumvented the catch limit by bringing their families with them as a way to legally increase their catch.

The summit also heard the tarps, beer cans, lumber with nails and other debris left behind after the ice fishing season is an eyesore and will pose a danger to boaters.

The Ministry of Natural Resources increased its presence on Lake Nipissing to enforce the new walleye catch limits and found 10% of the 1,700 sport fishermen contacted had infractions that included too many fishing lines, violating slot sizes and not following the catch limit.

The MNR received at least a couple of calls daily about possible infractions this winter, said conservation officer Tim Caddel.

The summit is scheduled to continue Friday with panel discussion about the future of Lake Nipissing

I just came here to post this.. Beat me to it. lol. I can't believe the won't allow comment's on this article at the nugget. I fired quite the email to them. You can post a bout snakes and bus stop's but not the summit. Stupid paper.


I don't understand where they get their numbers. How do they know how many times I'm out there, what lake and what I am taking home.. what about the size of the fish. I took much more perch then pickered this year and I don't even really fish that lake in the summer. I go to Nosbonsing... They really need a better way to get the numbers of fish comming out of the lake.

That article really made me mad. How are they getting those numbers?

Hi Michelle....sorry to beat you to it...lol

I tend to try and keep my opinions to myself on this board, but I share your frustration and likely others frustration, no matter which part of the issue you find yourself on.

At the end of the day, I think we should all enjoy fishing for Walleye this year on Lake Nipissing.....I will let you all read between the lines on that statement. I am sure the sport fishing group will be under the microscope this year by more than a few authorities. I would gladly participate in any sort of study on catch sizes, limits and numbers if someone were to ask me....which has not happened yet.

Michelle, you might just see me out on Nosbingsing this year....or in years to come...lol.

SKRAMO
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Thanks for posting SKRAMO. It is looking like we are not far off from the day when your average sport sport fisherman will no longer be able to wet a line in Nipissing to ensure the natives will be able to continue to catch their quota of 21,000kgs + annually (plus what ever they catch that does not get recorded that is sold out the back door and is consumed on the reserve) all because or a treaty signed in 1850. Sorry but a lot has changed since 1850 and unless the natives are willing to go back to the way their ancestors fished in 1850 this treaty should not hold much weight today. In 1850 they were fishing for food to feed their people and survive they were not fishing for profit, big difference here. In my opinion the walleye population would have a significant better chance of survival if they reversed this line of thinking, allow the sport fishermen to continue fishing the lake with a slot size a limit in effect and shut down the commercial fishing altogether. Our oceans are not surviving commercial fishing so how could one ever think a lake would ever have a chance of survival? This is a problem we face today and it can only be fixed by using logic that fits with the time we are in today not by what was thought of 163 years ago.

Bottom line right now though looks like your sport fisherman is about to get it in the bottom as the natives continue to make us out to be the only contributing factor to this problem.

Hoping for a logical solution,
FatRap

I agree with both of you.

I do wish they would come and ask me what I've fished. I really feel if we don't know how they are getting their numbers then we will never agree with them.

Michelle what are you thinking, you should be reading the North Bay Nipissing News not the Nugget.

I work for Metroland Media who own the North Bay Nipissing News.

FatRap

Michelle,

Not sure if we are allowed to post links, but I though this was very relative to our discussion here for all to see.

This link will take you to some info from Stats Canada that I think you were wondering about. It is a very interesting read, and for me personally, after spending some time on this site and reading this, it left me kind of perplexed. Again I will let you draw your own conclusions. I am not sure if any of this information has been used by our local groups to form the opinions they now have.


http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/16-002-x/2008...e/10622-eng.htm

Some more material on Angling Statistics for those that are interested.

Thanks guys looks like I have a lot of reading to do.

I've tried finding stuff online but never found anything specific.

Fatrap I am def going to switch to Nipissing News. I usally use the baytoday over the nugget but they have been lacking latley too.

And on a side note let's hope for a big win tonight for the Leafs.

Oh hell ya.

Here is the final news article on the Summit.....in my opinion a very "toned down" article compared to the first one found in the Nugget. Again, much to Michelle's frustration, the article is closed for comments. Does anyone else feel like the finger pointing game will go on and on until there are no fish left?


One interesting point to note...the caption under a photo of a Lawyer involved with treaty rights:

Nipissing First Nation resident Fred Bellefeuille, a lawyer involved with treaty rights, said fishing is a proud tradition and part of the Nipissing culture that was once driven underground because of government pressure, he told the Lake Nipising Summit on Thursday. (yes Nipissing was spelt wrong in this caption....I am sure FatRap is having a good chuckle over that one).


Here is the article:


NORTH BAY - The annual tradition of placing bets at Demarco's Confectionary about when the ice is off Lake Nipissing could help shed light on what's happening under the water.

The second annual Lake Nipissing Summit led by Nipissing First Nation looked primarily at concerns about walleye decline and drew attention to pockets of research already underway to explain the changing ecosystem.

The public can play a role in that research but have been slow to participate, the summit heard.

“It's frustrating because a lot of the input comes after the fact,” said Scott Kaufman, a biologist with the Ministry of Natural Resources in North Bay.

The MNR and its Lake Nipissing Fisheries Management Plan Advisory Council held a series of open houses in the district with the highest per capita attendance at the Dokis First Nation for input into its proposed 20-year plan.

The plan from 2014 to 2034 would include reviews every five years.

So far the advisory council has looked into the increase of yellow perch in the lake which doesn't explain the magnitude of walleye decline, although it points to a change in the ecosystem, Kaufman said.

The summit heard promoting the harvest of yellow perch worked in southern Ontario, although the fish has a reputation for having worms in the summer.

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters recommends controlling the number of cormorants which Kaufman said eat 70 times more perch than walleye, yet perch numbers have been six times higher since 2006.

The more likely reason for the decline in walleye is human exploitation, he said, adding walleye in Lake Nipissing have been overfished since record keeping started in the 1970s.

Walleye are reaching 35 centimetres when they're about 2 1/2 years old instead of four years in part because there's less competition for them to feed and grow.

Overfishing juvenile walleye limits their early entry into spawning stocks which are at their lowest level in 15 years, Kaufman said.

Canadore College has conducted Lake Nipissing projects dating back to the 1970s that haven't been compiled yet, and even data such as the annual ice-off dates recorded since 1901 have a place in this research to better understand the lake, the summit heard.

Nipissing University announced during the summit it's offering to host a web portal to keep all this data in one place.

Government, universities and colleges are working with smaller budgets, and it makes sense to combine their efforts, said geography professor Dan Walters.

He's part of a Lake Nipissing State of the Basin report funded by the university and the province to look at fish stocks as well as temperature, invasive species and chemistry of the lake including phosphorus and toxic blue-green algae.

The geography department is also installing a buoy in Callander Bay where these blooms have formed in a separate project to measure temperature and dissolved oxygen at various depths, said Canada Research Chair April James.

The summit held at Canadore College ended Friday with a plan to form a committee to continue discussions with the different groups attending the two-day event, and to bring in other interests that weren't represented.