| Lake Ontario and Tributary Fish Harvest Concerns
The Lake Ontario and tributary fishery is truly amazing! The fact we can catch tyee salmon in front of the CN Tower and catch wild trout and salmon in local rivers with close to eight million human residents is also truly exciting! But we must do a better job to protect our wild fish!
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Many anglers have falsely believed the fishery in Lake Ontario is mainly hatchery based for Pacific salmon and steelhead. Research suggested wild salmon were providing 40-60% of the population, but this was not supported by some outspoken in the fishery. Yet the NY and Ontario MNR adipose clipping of ALL hatchery Chinook salmon has put that theory to rest. Wild chinook salmon are in fact falling into the 40-60% range, so roughly half the salmon are wild and half are stocked in Lake Ontario as of 2010. |
Steelhead in the Lake are more difficult to pinpoint as NY does not clip all their stocked fish. Yet on the north shore rivers MNR stocks very few and we rely almost entirely on wild steelhead! The eastern GTA rivers are 97-98% wild steelhead and the Credit's wild steelhead run is growing rapidly thanks to CRAA's work. In 2010 the wild portion of the run exceeded 75% again and the trend suggests we could hit 90% wild fish by 2012 in the Credit River!
Over harvest has been very well proven as the key factor in reducing the population and the size of steelhead. CRAA has been pushing MNR to lower limits and protect our wild steelhead!
CRAA proposed limits:
Lake Ontario – 2 steelhead, minimum 26 inches (65 cm).
Tributaries – 1 steelhead, minimum 26 inches (65 cm).
Please review the following links for more information:
Lake Ontario Steelhead Management 
North Shore Steelheaders Portage Creek research:
http://www.northshoresteelhead.com/project3.htm
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