Safe harvest levels exceeded - NFN

Then, quite frankly, you need to to stop complaining about people who keep fish. A % of fish released die anyways. YOU ARE KILLING FISH JUST BY CATCHING THEM. Do you ice fish? The rate at which fish die after release increase in the winter.

When you play around with nature, some of nature will die, regardless of how much you try to minimize impact.

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Originally Posted by rfb

I look at fishing as a sport or outdoor activity.
I enjoy the act of catching fish. I like to do it over and over again. For me there is real pleasure in stalking a trout in a stream or river and landing it
I know there is a risk I may accidentally kill a trout but that risk is minimal.

If you look at catch and release studies, when it's done properly, the same fish may be caught over and over again.

I think that if a fishery can support catch and keep, I'm Ok with that. I really think most can't without harming the fishery, at least not in the numbers we allow today. A lot of fisheries can only support the fishing they do because of massive restocking efforts.

For what I fish for, there is a real difference between fishing for a wild trout and a pale, tank raised domestic fish.

Does anyone see fishing pressure decreasing in the future? Does anyone see urbanization decreasing? Those two things go hand in hand in affecting fishing quality.

I just think it's unrealistic to think our fisheries can maintain any quality if we keep removing tons of fish from them every year.

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I'm 62 and have been fishing all my life. Believe me - fishing in Ontario is so much better than it used to be 30 years ago.
The Muskoka's - you couldn't catch a fish there 30 years ago.
Lake Erie was bass only - now a fantastic walleye population.
Rice Lake - very hard to catch fish there 30 yrs ago.
Grand River - I never caught a walleye there - ever - until last 10 yrs they are common.
IMO - the Ministry has done an incredible job. Fishing and hunting is a monsterous industry. Tourism $'s are free money coming into Ontario. The Ministry understands $'s invested comes back ten fold.

Well put, here is an example of someone who has time on the water, a lifetime to be clear. An angler who has seen many of the peaks and valleys in the fishery. If they say overall it is better then thirty or forty years ago they're probably right in that assertion.

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Originally Posted by Roper

I'm 62 and have been fishing all my life. Believe me - fishing in Ontario is so much better than it used to be 30 years ago.
The Muskoka's - you couldn't catch a fish there 30 years ago.
Lake Erie was bass only - now a fantastic walleye population.
Rice Lake - very hard to catch fish there 30 yrs ago.
Grand River - I never caught a walleye there - ever - until last 10 yrs they are common.
IMO - the Ministry has done an incredible job. Fishing and hunting is a monsterous industry. Tourism $'s are free money coming into Ontario. The Ministry understands $'s invested comes back ten fold.

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Originally Posted by blasted_saber

Then, quite frankly, you need to to stop complaining about people who keep fish. A % of fish released die anyways. YOU ARE KILLING FISH JUST BY CATCHING THEM. Do you ice fish? The rate at which fish die after release increase in the winter.

When you play around with nature, some of nature will die, regardless of how much you try to minimize impact.

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Have you seen any of the studies on survival rate of catch and release fish? They're pretty dam high. And no I don't ice fish.

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Originally Posted by stilchen67

Well put, here is an example of someone who has time on the water, a lifetime to be clear. An angler who has seen many of the peaks and valleys in the fishery. If they say overall it is better then thirty or forty years ago they're probably right in that assertion.

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I'm only 53. I guess not old enough to have seen the peaks and valleys. And if all fisheries are about is peaks and valleys why are we getting excited about overfishing on Nippissing. It will come back right? Maybe not in our lifetime but it will come back, right?

Well here go,s
I am a NFN member and i do like to get out and fish with me son. It is my right to keep what i want BUT I don,t maybe keep one or 2 for dinner.
I see people ice fishing and pulling walleye up on to the ice leaving them there until all there buddies see it and take a picture of it . So do you think that fish is going to live? And where are people that go out and get there limit and run back to the camp drop them off and come back out. No ever fishing there.
One thing that is being put to the band council on Juy 30th is to close the lake right off .
And the members are all going to put to council that every one wants there share of the limit for NFN so in that why we close the netters down.
Some thing else is maybe we should stop live bait so the hooks are not going down so far and killing fish that are to be put back.
We at NFN know there is a problem and 99.5 % want it stopped. There is only 7 or 8 nets here on the reserve and i,m sure they will be gone.
So next time you get a walleye and you have been drinking pop all day think about taking care of that fish so it will be there for you next year when it,s 18 inches. If we don,t look after the lake we all loss and think of all the camps that will have to close down.
Start fishing for bass and pike or sheep heads there a lot of fun and give the walleye time to come back.

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Originally Posted by rfb

I'm only 53. I guess not old enough to have seen the peaks and valleys. And if all fisheries are about is peaks and valleys why are we getting excited about overfishing on Nippissing. It will come back right? Maybe not in our lifetime but it will come back, right?

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With regards to over fishing on Nipissing people are getting excited to steal your quote "" because it is OVERFISHED which you apparently acknowledge. As along as it is overfished it will not come back. You don't seem to comprehend with nature there are peaks and valleys it will balance out over time. Nipissing will not because a certain group of people are abusing the fishery, with that much overharvest walleye cannot reach maximum spawning size potential or peak numerically. As you stated previously because we screwed them over in the past it's ok from them to abuse a resource. Granted there were injustices in the past, but by todays standards most first nations people have equal if not greater opportunities then the rest of us.

Well said stilchen from a NFN member well said.

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Originally Posted by stilchen67

Granted there were injustices in the past, but by todays standards most first nations people have equal if not greater opportunities then the rest of us.

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I couldn't disagree with you more.

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Originally Posted by stilchen67

With regards to over fishing on Nipissing people are getting excited to steal your quote "" because it is OVERFISHED which you apparently acknowledge. As along as it is overfished it will not come back. You don't seem to comprehend with nature there are peaks and valleys it will balance out over time. Nipissing will not because a certain group of people are abusing the fishery, with that much overharvest walleye cannot reach maximum spawning size potential or peak numerically. As you stated previously because we screwed them over in the past it's ok from them to abuse a resource. Granted there were injustices in the past, but by todays standards most first nations people have equal if not greater opportunities then the rest of us.

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Oh I think I understand nature all right. I think you missed my point. Regardless if you're going to quote me quote the whole thing. I said I didn't agree with netting but that I was uncomfortable dictating to FN after all we've done to screw them over in the past.

As far as them having all the opportunities we do, suffice it to say that might be overstating it a tad.