MNR Biologist Inducted into Muskies Canada Hall of Fame

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At the 2010 Muskies Canada Board of Directors annual meeting, six individuals, including MNR senior fisheries biologist Steven Kerr, were inducted into the Hall of Fame. With the exception of Steve, all were prominent, long standing members of Muskies Canada. Muskies Canada Hall of Fame Award is the club’s most prestigious award bestowed to individual members who have outstanding dedication in: science, media and club development and promotion. These members receiving this award are nominated and voted in by their peers.

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AFS-OC Voices Concern Regarding Asian Carp

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The Ontario Chapter of the American Fisheries Society has sent letters to the Minister of Natural Resources, Minister of Fisheries and Oceans and Commander of US Army Corp of Engineers, voicing our concern regarding the potential for Asian Carp to invade the Great Lakes Basin via the Chicago Shipping Canal.

Ontario Out of Doors

Chain Pickerel Expanding into Ontario

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The native range of this southern cousin of the Northern Pike is expanding into Ontario. On September 16, 2009, a MNR field crew identified a Chain Pickerel (Esox niger) captured during routine gill-netting operations in the Thousand Islands area of the upper St. Lawrence River. The fish was 58 cm long and weighed approximately 1.4 kg. This was the second documented occurrence of Chain Pickerel in this area in the last year and a half. A commercial fisherman turned in the first in April 2008. These two specimens represent possibly the first documented Chain Pickerel in the province. Read more

News

Spotted Gar Found in East Lake

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It has recently been confirmed that “an unusual fish” caught by commercial fisherman David Baverstock in the Fairfields Cove (Cove Beach) area of East Lake, Prince Edward County  (Lake Ontario, Bay of Quinte area) in 2008, was a Spotted Gar (Lepisosteus oculatus). This species is designated as “Threatened” by both the Federal and Provincial Species at Risk lists. Mr. Baverstock, whose family have held commercial fishing rights since 1898, had the foresight to take the fish to the Glenora Fisheries Station where it was photographed, and a tissue sample taken. Subsequently the fish was returned to East Lake. Read more

Eels on Wheels

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An article entitled “Eels on Wheels” in the December 2008 issue of the Walrus, a Canadian general-interest magazine with an international outlook, features MNR biologists and their work, concerns and research surrounding declining American Eel populations. Read more

Fleming College

Muskie Hatchery Stirs Interest in Aquaculture at Fleming College

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No one thought that in its first year of production, a tiny 6-tank Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) research facility would produce more than 200 fall fingerlings for reintroduction into Lake Simcoe, located in southern Ontario. The research facility, which was converted from a college classroom into a hatchery, is located at Sir Sandford Fleming College (SSFC) in Lindsay, Ontario. Read more

Government of Canada

Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Cases Confirmed in Ontario

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The Government of Canada today announced that the Great Lakes strain of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia has been detected in fish from Hamilton Harbour and the Thames River in Ontario. These two findings mark the first detections of the disease in 2007 in Canada.  Read more