Adequate knowledge is vital to adequate management. If 

 the Department is to achieve management goals, emphasis 

 must be placed on providing support for studies that will 

 strengthen important gaps in the knowledge of how to 

 manage fisheries on a more predictable basis. 



MARKETING DEVELOPMENT 



The Commercial Fish Unit, in implementing programs to 

 assist the industry in its efforts to advance technologically, 

 operates, with the assistance of field staff, under an objec- 

 tive of sustained improvement of the lines of communica- 

 tion with commercial fishermen. The needs of the fishermen 

 and the objectives of the Department can only be under- 

 stood with the rapport that is established through direct 

 contact in a program to provide an optimum, continuing 

 contribution of renewable resource production to the 

 economy of the Province. 



Through a voiced need by fisheries throughout the Prairie 

 Provinces and the Northwest Territories, the Freshwater 

 Fish Marketmg Corporation was created by federal and 

 provincial legislation to organize marketing, improve capi- 

 talization in processing, stabilize prices, and provide better 

 access to world markets for all species of fish. After careful 

 consideration, the Province agreed, in 1969, that the Cor- 

 poration would become the buying and selling agent for 

 freshwater fish in northwestern Ontario. Planning and direc- 

 tion by the Corporation is expected to provide economic 

 advantages not previously realized by the numerous remote 

 fisheries in the Province. 



For several years, the Fisheries Prices Support Board, a 

 federally administered program, has helped in stabilizing 

 yellow perch prices for the commercial fishermen on Lake 

 Erie. This program has been achieved by buying these pre- 

 mium freshwater fish and holding them in cold storage until 

 the market was ready to accept the supplies. In spite of 

 exceptionally high production in 1969, prices remained 

 relatively strong and stable, which resulted in few fish 

 being offered to the Board for cold storage. 



The Department continued its participation in programs 

 to assist the industry by providing field service for the Fish- 

 ing Vessel Insurance Plan, a low-cost insurance program 

 initiated by the Department of Fisheries and Forestry. Two 

 claims for indemnity were met in 1969. The success of the 

 program was further supported by an announcement of re- 

 duced premiums and improved benefit structure. 



FISHERIES INVENTORY UNIT 



The Unit was established in 1966 to conduct an inventory 

 of Ontario's lakes and streams, and to determine the present 



and potential capability of every body of water as a fish 

 producing unit. 



The refinement of survey methods, greater standardiza- 

 tion in conducting inventory surveys, the search for better 

 gear, and the evaluation of techniques all received increased 

 emphasis during the year. 



Range finders were introduced to determine precisely 

 the distance from shore of the beginning and end of each 

 echo-sounding run. More conductivity meters were made 

 available so that crews could carry out their own complete 

 water analysis without the need for costly and time-consum- 

 ing laboratory analysis. Greater emphasis was placed on the 

 use of mono-filament nylon gill nets for obtaining catches 

 of fish in less time than with standard nets. 



Lake and stream surveys are highly technical and require 

 a high degree of training on the part of those carrying them 

 out. To this end, forty-eight university students and nine- 

 teen fisheries personnel, from fifteen of the twenty-one 

 forest districts, attended a one-week training and refresher 

 course at the Ontario Forest Technical School, Dorset, prior 

 to the commencement of the field program in June. 



The determination of the age of fish to determine growth 

 rates, dominant year classes and other factors is a vital part 

 of fisheries management. During the year, an experienced 

 fish scale reader, who will be responsible for the training 

 of a number of specialists in this field, was hired. 



PROGRESS IN LAKE INVENTORY SURVEYS 



Number ol lakes surveyed each year 1958-1969 



969 —1000 



—800 



NOTE: 



Fisheries Invenlory Unit 

 bcgJn opcralions in 1966 



^^ 443 



■IBS ^M 



280 290 ■■ 



illllilill 



1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 



29 



