04-15-2005, 03:43 AM
The following self explanatory letter is circulating on the Internet. It was sent to Fred Hall, the District Manager of Natural Resources in Kenora, Ontario (807) 468-2528 from a retired Ontario MNR senior manager. Some names have been removed to protect confidentiality. We have since learned from several other sources of widespread dumping of dead muskies and bass that were inadvertently caught by the netters this winter.
Dear Fred,
I received a very disturbing phone call last evening from (XXX) about the extent of First Nation commercial netting on Lake of the Woods, which corroborates what many people (including myself) have been observing and reporting to you repeatedly for well over a year now.
I suggested to (XXX) that he call, and/or meet, with you as soon as possible to fill you in on the details.
As (XXX) reported, one of the principals in the new commercial fish packing plant here in Kenora, advised him that he has been shipping "40,000 pounds of a fish a week, all winter long, from Lake of the Woods."
(XXX) also related a first hand account of an Indian commercial fisherman who told him that he was taking all of his "quotas" from all the lakes he was "licensed to fish" solely from the Lake of the Woods. The commercial fisherman also suggested to Lee that this was now a common practise with many other commercial fishermen. I am sure (XXX) will relate the specifics when he meets with you.
If this is true, the harvest is entirely unsustainable and will severely threaten fish stocks in Lake of the Woods.
As you know, the accelerated level of commercial netting on the lake over the past year has been unprecedented and is cause for concern. It now appears to be totally out of control. If it continues, I have no doubt, whatsoever, that we will shortly see very serious responses within the fishery.
Indeed, if what (XXX) is relating is factual, and I have no doubt that it is, given what many of us have witnessed ourselves and reported to you repeatedly, the impact on the walleye and pike populations is unsustainable. And the effect on other species, especially muskellunge, that are being netted, killed and dumped as an unwanted by-catch is disgraceful.
If 40,000 pounds of fish a week are being shipped from the new local fish processing plant alone, the implications are unmistakable. It translates into 160,000 pounds of fish a month or over 2 million pounds a year! And that is from only one source. Given the early ice out conditions that now present themselves, if uncontrolled commercial netting continues throughout the upcoming spring spawning period, the impact on the fishery will be particularly harmful. Perhaps irreversible.
I would urge you to take immediate and responsible action to reduce and control the harvest to sustainable levels, else risk losing one of the most important fisheries in Ontario.
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