#1- The proposal to prohibit…

#1- The proposal to prohibit bait fish from native Brook Trout lakes and the ability to enforce that fairly seems like a difficult and extremely expensive task. The reason for this is because many trout lakes that are now stocked originally had native trout populations. A determination would have to be made as to whether any one of these particular lakes still holds native trout. Some of these stocked lakes may also have some migration of natural trout from a connecting stream. The MNRF would have to provide a list of all trout trout lakes in the province stating whether they hold native trout or not and if they come under this new legislation. This would particular necessary for tourists who are fishing in an area they are not familiar with. Is the MNRF ready and willing to take on the humongous task of doing these evaluations and preparing such a list. #2- The proposal to prohibit the use and transportation of bait in the vast number of parks is also an initiative that will seriously reduce tourism opportunities in the province. This does not only restrict bait fishing in the parks but also other destinations that are presently being accessed by waterway parks (i.e. Abitibi-Destroyes Waterway Park to access Abitibi Lake). It is my belief that in the policy guidelines for these waterway provincial parks, the promotion of recreation, including fishing, was one of the objectives. I also believe many fishermen will forego traveling to certain destinations to fish with such prohibitive legislation. #3. Is it the provinces objective to totally eliminate ice fishing in Northern Ontario? The plan to prohibit the transportation of live bait to Northern Ontario in the winter time is one problem, but what is even worse, is the prohibition of even dead bait makes no sense (dead bait is included in this prohibition according to the definition in the glossary of your Strategic Policy -Section 9.0).

[Original Comment ID: 209117]