This policy discusses risk…

This policy discusses risk of invasive species but appears to give no weight to basic biosecurity and disease transmission aside from mentioning the risk of VHSv. There are numerous other diseases of concern, some reportable and some not, that can be transmitted by bait fish species listed and there appears to be no mitigation strategy in place for these.
It is unfortunate that the use of live animals as bait is still permitted - it does not meet any animal welfare standard published to cause unnecessary pain and suffering. It would be better for Ontario from both a disease risk and an animal welfare stand point to take a leadership stance that either humanely euthanized disease screened fish be used or artificial baits. This is exactly the stance taken by many other North American jurisdictions for precisely disease control and animal welfare reasons.
The use of euthanized and tested fish also allows the opportunity for verification of species harvested to ensure compliance.