Cutbacks to panfishing limits hurting tourism, group says
ICE FISHING DEBATE: Anglers, tourist association concerned with MNR limits
Posted By VALERIE MACDONALD Northumberland Today.com
Updated 6 months ago
VALERIE MACDONALD Northumberland TodayTony van Steijn (standing) and ice fishing hut renter Ben Sholtz of BJ Tackle in Bewdley check out the huts during a recent trip onto the lake.
|
|
NORTHUMBERLAND -- The impact of ice fishing on Rice Lake is to be debated at the next county council meeting March 3. A notice of motion about new provincial Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) fishing limits has set the scene for the debate.
"There is concern about the (panfishing) cutback," Alnwick/Haldimand Township Mayor Bill Finley said. " There is the (potential) of lost tourism revenue."
Finley was referring to the first-time limit on panfishing, small fish sought by Americans and fished by the hundreds and thousands when U.S. visitors vacation at Rice Lake resorts during the summer. Lakeside businesses are already feeling the impact on the upcoming tourist season, Finley suggested.
The Rice Lake Tourist Association is also opposed to the "sunfish" (bluegill and pumpkinseed) limits for the same reason.
Letters from Association president Maureen Brough have been sent to county council and area municipalities stating that, while the group conditionally supported the decision to introduce ice fishing to Rice Lake this year, it "disagrees with the MNR on the introduction of sunfish limits on Rice Lake."
During the Zone 17 advisory council meetings before the Jan. 1 change, no information ever suggested that "sustain-ability of the sunfish population" required limits, Brough wrote.
"The imposition of sunfish limits has negatively impacted businesses on and around Rice Lake with many resorts receiving cancellations for the upcoming season," she states.
For the first time since the 1920s, the ministry decided to permit year-round panfishing for yellow perch, black crappie and sunfish on Rice Lake and other bodies of water in an area between Lake Ontario, Pickering, Brighton and Lake Simcoe. Ice huts went up in the Bewdley area and other parts of Rice Lake on Jan. 1 and fishing has been going on with catches of perch and some crappie, say fishermen interviewed.
They must adhere, however, to a first-time-ever limit on panfishing on Rice Lake: a sport fishing licence holder can catch up to 300 sunfish at a time, but only 30 of these can be over 7.1 inches or 18 centimetres in length. Someone with a conservation licence an only catch 15 at a time, of any size, according to MNR regulations.
Bewdley businessman Ben Sholtz has been renting fishing huts on Rice Lake near his fishing equipment shop, BJ Tackle.
"I didn't support (year-round fishing) at first, but I see it's beneficial and I now support it," he said.
Ice fishing is not as brisk as summer fishing, though, Sholtz added.
Some members of the Rice Lake Tourist Association think that limiting the number of sunfish that can be caught is responsible for fewer bookings this summer, but it really is the state of the U.S. economy and the higher value of the Canadian dollar, Sholtz said.
The problem is not the new fishing regulations, he reiterated.
vmacdonald@northumber landtoday.com
Topic guidelines: We welcome your thoughts, stories and information related to this article.
Please stay on topic and be respectful of others. Keep the conversation appropriate for interested readers.
