fisheries resource in southern Ontario are influenced by 

 land ownership. Our affluent society has given rise to 

 changes in land ownership patterns, and the use of many 

 rural properties has changed from agriculture to recreation. 

 In the development field, which includes the construction 

 and management of pond areas for fish, and stream man- 

 agement, there is an increasing need for professional advice 

 and assistance on the part of new land owners. At the same 

 time, the need for maintaining, developing and promoting 

 public fishing by the preservation of habitat, land acquisi- 

 tion and construction, is ever increasing. The provision of 

 public access to natural waters in heavily populated areas is 

 also important and should be included in any modern 

 management plan. 



To initiate these programs and to provide a public ser- 

 vice, an extension biologist was appointed to the Lake 

 Huron district and one to the Lake Simcoe district in 1968. 

 A Head Office position in the extension field was also ac- 

 quired in 1968 but was not filled on a permanent basis. 



FISHERIES MANAGEMENT UNITS 



These Units, each consisting of a biologist and a potential 

 staff of one Fisheries Management Officer and several sum- 

 mer students, are established on large, important water 

 areas to ensure that fisheries matters are adequately cov- 

 ered. They constitute an addition to district staff, but with 

 more confined responsibility. 



In 1968, new Units were established on Lake St. Clair 

 and Lake Nipigon. The biologists, so appointed, spent the 

 remainder of the fiscal year in becoming thoroughly orien- 

 ted with the resource and its problems, and in the perusal 

 of available data and reports. 



Rainy Lake. This Unit was established in 1965, at which time 

 a basic program of applied research and investigation was 

 prepared and initiated. The program consists of seven sepa- 

 rate, yet integral, projects as follows: studies of yellow pick- 

 erel spawning stock; egg abundance and viability; abun- 

 dance of yellow pickerel fingerlings and forage species; test 

 netting; sampling of commercial catch; creel census work; 

 and the collection of limnological data on Rainy Lake. Vari- 

 ous aspects of the work ha\'e been carried out in the North 

 Arm, Red Cut Bay and the East Arm. In addition to the yearly 

 monitoring of the Rainy Lake fishery, the basic aim of these 

 investigations is to determine the cause of fluctuations in 

 yellow pickerel spawing success and the reproductive poten- 

 tial of the species in Rainy Lake. The abundance of fingerling 

 yellow pickerel in 1968 approximated 400 per acre, which 

 exceeded the 1967 abundance index of 331 per acre. An 

 extensive creel census of the lower half of the North Arm 

 revealed that anglers caught approximately 3,315 pounds of 

 yellow pickerel at a rate of 0.2 fish per man-hour. Relatively 

 light fishing pressure. 0.36 man-hours per acre, was indi- 



cated, and 64 per cent of the anglers were non-residents. 



Timagami-Nipissing. An intensive creel census study, winter 

 and summer, was continued on Lake Timagami in 1968. 

 From these data, it was estimated that the lake provided 

 86,197 man-hours of fishing, and that the harvest consisted 

 of 5,947 lake trout, 2,666 yellow pickerel, 520 smallmouth 

 bass, 47 pike and 1,586 whitefish. The planting of marked 

 lake trout yearlings appears to be of little benefit to the 

 Lake Timagami fishery. Since 1961, 72,500 marked trout have 

 been planted, and only seven recaptures have been re- 

 corded. Future plantings, accompanied by a more intensive 

 follow-up, will be made on an alternate-year basis until 

 1977. A yellow pickerel tagging project was conducted at 

 Wasi Falls in Callandar Bay of Lake Nipissing during the 

 spring of 1968. Four hundred and six yellow pickerel were 

 measured, sexed, scale sampled, fin clipped, tagged and 

 released. Forty-seven of these fish were recovered by anglers 

 during the spring and summer fishing season, indicating an 

 angling mortality of 11.5 per cent. During the fall, an addi- 

 tional 159 yellow pickerel were tagged in Callandar Bay by 

 the use of a trap net. A preliminary creel census and a boat 

 count from aircraft were carried out. Some fish sampling and 

 water quality analyses were also done. 



Kawartha Lakes. A three-year study of the Rice Lake fishery 

 was completed by this Unit in 1968. A large part of the work 

 program consisted of netting, tagging and release of sport 

 fish and the making of a creel census record. During the two 

 and one-half months of netting in 1968, mid-April to the end 

 of June, three sizes ot impounding gear were used at ten 

 different sites. The following numbers of sport fish were 

 handled during the netting period: yellow pickerel, 1,986; 

 largemouth bass, 1,526; smallmouth bass, 206; and maskin- 

 onge, 43. 



Lake of the Woods. Fisheries work on Lake of the Woods in 

 1968 was primarily concerned with yellow pickerel, the most 

 important species. A total of 1,021 yellow pickerel were 

 tagged in the north sector of the lake at four locations. By 

 the end of 1968, recaptures totalled 102, or 10 per cent, and 

 of these, 80 per cent were caught by anglers and approxi- 

 mately 14 per cent by commercial fishermen. Routine sam- 

 pling of the commercial fishery provided comparative data 

 on the harvest of \ellow pickerel taken in gill nets and trap 

 nets. It was noted that yellow pickerel taken in gill nets 

 averaged 17.1 inches in length, while those from trap nets 

 averaged 15.1 inches. Many of the latter were immature fish. 

 The routine creel censes on Lake of the Woods during 1968 

 showed a total success figure of 0.69 fish per man-hour of 

 angling. Over 80 per cent of this catch consisted of yellow 

 pickerel. The production of fingerling \ellow pickerel was 

 sampled by seine hauls during the month of August. On 



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