An alarming number of accidents are associated with disregard for the game 

 laws. In reviewing the accident reports it is noted that 34 per cent of the shooters 

 involved in hunting accidents were contravening one or another of the laws and 

 regulations. 



Although hunting is a relatively safe sport, sportsmen themselves have the 

 primary responsibility to insure that it can remain so. Bearing this in mind, officers 

 of the Department have given serious study to a system of testing all applicants 

 before they obtain their first hunting licence. 



FISHERIES SECTION 



Game Fish and Hatcheries Sub-Section 



Management of the fisheries resource in Ontario requires a very diversified 

 program to meet the variable conditions resulting from the tremendous differences 

 in population densities, land use, accessibility and topography throughout the 

 Province. For example, the Department is presently concerned with the need for 

 the creation of artificial impoundments and the acquisition of public access through 

 patented lands in certain areas of southern Ontario while, at the same time, it is 

 equally concerned with the investigation and development of countless lakes in 

 the north which are virtually unexplored and accessible only by aircraft or 

 extensive travel by waterways. 



The fisheries management program in Ontario, therefore, varies consider- 

 ably from area to area depending largely on local conditions and local require- 

 ments. Lake and stream surveys and related fish population studies still form the 

 basic requirement of management and constitute a major part of the program. 

 However, increased emphasis is being placed on more specialized fields of study 

 such as the development of new and improved fishing areas, creel census, lake 

 reclamation and the management of put-and-take fisheries, particularly in the 

 more settled areas of southern Ontario, where public demand for recreation and 

 sport fishing has increased tremendously in recent years. 



Reports from field offices across the Province indicate reasonably good fishing 

 success despite the increase in fishing activity. Good catches of warm water fish, 

 including walleye, northern pike and bass, were common in the northwestern and 

 south-central regions of the Province. In southeastern Ontario, the March 1st 

 opening of the season for brook and brown trout proved to be very successful and 

 it was well received by the majority of the angling public. Excellent fishing for 

 bass and perch is reported from Lake Erie District. It should also be noted that 

 the rainbow trout provided good fishing generally throughout its range and prob- 

 ably contributed more to the sport fishery this year than ever before. 



Although the actual status of angling activity in the Province is unkown, it 

 is apparent that the number of anglers fishing in Ontario water is increasing 

 annually. This observation is substantiated, at least in part, from creel 

 census studies carried out on various waters throughout the Province, from the 

 continual spread of anglers to new waters and from the annual increase in the 

 number of non-resident angling licence sales. These data, when considered with 

 results of a household survey conducted in 1959, would indicate that some two 

 million anglers probably fished in Ontario in 1963. 



An outline showing the number and value of angling Hcence sales for 1963 

 and for the previous three years is included as Table I. It is noted that a new 

 3-day non-resident angling licence was introduced in 1963 and that this licence 

 was purchased by 69,400 non-residents. The number of sales of non-resident 



98 



