My family has owned and…

My family has owned and operated Press Lake Camp for 29 years across two generations, and we have personally used and sold bait fish for all of them. The new policy that is being proposed will be unenforceable, it will put many small businesses and bait shops out of business and negatively impact the rest, and will be ineffective in preventing the spread of invasive species.

Our business is located in a waterway provincial park along the English river system. This new policy would prevent my guests from being able to use bait fish, like they have been since they started fishing here, some as far back as the 1950's. This will lead to me losing business which will impact my revenue and the revenue of all the places they stop and spend money at on their way here (restaurants, grocery stores, bait stores, etc.). It will especially effect the bait stores they frequent along the way since they will not be able to transfer bait fish between zones. Many of my guests come through Thunder Bay on their way to Ignace and stop to get leeches on route which they will no longer be able to do. I have personally spoke to some of these shops and majority of their business is travelling fisherman who will no longer be able to buy bait from them, likely resulting in them going out of business. All of this because the proposal suggests we should divide NWO, where there isn't an invasive species problem, into several smaller zones. It would make much more sense to combine zones 1, 2, & 3 since they are in the north, and divide southern Ontario into smaller zones where the problem exists.

In addition to the economic impact, this new proposal will not help prevent the spread of invasive species into the English River or Press Lake since only a portion of this massive waterway is in the park. Directly south east of our location is Barrel Lake and south east of it is the border of the waterway park. As we know water flows north west in this area meaning any invasive species used mere kilometres away are still going to enter Press Lake and then spread through the rest of the system. This proposal will seriously effect my revenue for nothing as it does not prevent the spread of invasive species in the area; which is the whole point of the proposal. I would also like to add that during an information session with the MNRF this point and its ineffectiveness were addressed and the reasoning given for implementing it at all was that it was "simple." It's "simpler" to make a blanket policy for all parks, even if it is totally ineffective, which the hosts of the meeting agreed it would be. So it would seem to me that my revenue is ultimately being reduced in the name of simplicity?! Not to mention that our area is only one example of many where fisherman will not be able to use bait fish in a provincial park that has several other "unprotected" rivers flowing in and out of the park boundaries. Essentially making this portion of the proposal useless and ineffective, all the while hurting businesses in the name of simplicity.

Another point to be made speaking to the ineffectiveness of this proposal is that it will not effect the indigenous populations of Ontario. Only restricting the use of bait fish for a portion of the fisherman population across the province will not help prevent the spread of invasive species. This is a serious concern for NWO since a large portion of the population are indigenous. Bait fish will still be able to move freely about the north by a very large number of anglers. Anglers and businesses will all be impacted by this proposal and there is still a very high chance that our waterways will not be protected. Again rendering this proposal useless.

Lastly, it is proposed that anglers will have to keep receipts when buying bait and discard any leftover bait after two weeks. This is not only a hassle for the angler but is totally unenforceable since the angler can easily say they harvested the bait themselves for which there is no "expiry date" on. Even if it is required for the angler to keep a log of when and where they trap their own bait it is impossible to monitor and enforce that regulation. In the interest of saving money and not discarding live bait after two weeks the new proposal puts anglers in a position where it makes more sense to break the law than follow it, which is unenforceable anyway. Plus, implementing an additional license for anglers to harvest their own personal bait will create public outcry. The last thing the public wants is another government "money grab" that doesn't realistically help the cause that it claims to support. Charging anglers more money to trap their own minnows for personal use will do nothing to help prevent the spread of invasive species.

Although the idea of preventing the spread of invasive species is very good, this proposal does very little in the way of actually accomplishing that. All it really does is impact small business and over regulate and over complicate anglers ability to fish. I know from personal experience that the tourists that travel long distances, usually from the USA, and spend lots of money to go fishing in Canada will quit doing so if it becomes too difficult and over regulated. I fully support protecting the water way that supports my business but this proposal is not the answer and could do irreversible damage to hundreds of businesses and the tourism industry which supports NWO.

[Original Comment ID: 209902]