George Brooks, president of the Almaguin Fish Improvement Association, and past-president Jim Shaw are frustrated their successful hatchery is once again not being allowed to open.
MAGNETAWAN – They were close, but it looks like it’s no fry again this year for the Almaguin Fish Improvement Association (AFIA).
It appears that for the second year in a row the AFIA, a volunteer group based in Magnetawan, won’t be permitted to carry on its very successful pickerel fry hatchery situated at the base of the Magnetawan locks.
This is despite their finding a new ally.
The group was shut down in 2007 by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), after a biologist in the Parry Sound office came to the conclusion that their 20 years of volunteer work wasn’t having an impact on local fish stock in the Magnetawan River system.
In January of 2008 there was a ray of hope that the 20 or so volunteers that made the AFIA hatchery such a success, might be back in business.
“We were approached in early January by Eric (McIntyre, the MNR’s local stewardship co-ordinator) on behalf of the Eastern Georgian Bay Stewardship Council (EGBSC) to see if we would be interested in starting our hatchery program again,” said former AFIA president Jim Shaw. “We said sure.”
In fact, the group was so excited at the prospect of restarting their hatchery, they pulled out all the stops to make sure it would be a success on many levels.
Current-president George Brooks says he went so far as to get Magnetawan Central School, the Burk’s Falls and District Scouts and the local business association to take part in the egg collection.
“We had a whole program being put together to teach the school children ahead of the egg collection about what would be going on,” said Brooks. “The scouts, they were going to work on their fish habitat and fish rearing badges.”
The plan was to collect and hatch eggs in Magnetawan and give the fry to the EGBSC to plant further west on the river system. That’s where there are concerns about the health of the pickerel stock.
But by the end of March plans came crashing to a halt as the AFIA received word the MNR wasn’t going to issue the permit to let the hatchery re-open.
Shaw says he finds the closing of the Magnetawan hatchery frustrating.
“We know we’re successful because everything gets fertilized and more than 95 per cent hatch. That just doesn’t happen in nature,” said Shaw.
But the real success, say both Shaw and Brooks, are the spin-offs the hatchery created.
“You’ve got fish population data collection. You’ve got education. You’ve got the tourism – letting people know this area cares about its lakes. You’ve got the community pride that spurs others to be aware and take care of fish habitat. The spin-offs were endless,” said Shaw.
Even more frustrating for the group is that with the exception of issuing a permit and having a biologist on hand to supervise, the egg collection and fertilization program didn’t cost the MNR any money.
“Our level of expertise over 20 years has risen to the point of self-sufficiency,” said Shaw.
With the hatchery looking like it will remain shut down for another spawning season and even beyond that, he worries about the loss of that expertise.
“Without constant activity to make a cohesive organization, the skill set gets lost. The drive gets lost. The technological know-how gets lost,” said Shaw. “Look we’re a bunch of seniors for the most part and we can only be active in this for so long. If we don’t keep doing this we’re not going to be able to pass our know-how along.”
Brooks still holds out hope that sometime, hopefully in the near future, the MNR will reconsider and let the AFIA start hatching pickerel again.
“The consensus (of AFIA’s membership) is that we won’t close this down and burn the books because we hope that something will change and we can start doing some good for our waterways again,” said Brooks.
The stumbling block is that the MNR says there is no proof the hatchery is doing any good for the Magnetawan River system’s pickerel stock. Without definitive proof they aren’t prepared to allow it to keep operating.
“We can’t show that our fry are doing anything,” said Shaw. “They’re just a fin and an eyeball when we let them go. We can’t clip a fin and say, ‘Hey! That’s our fish.’”
But Brooks is certain the MNR is wrong.
“For a few years in a row we put in a million fry. They say only one per cent survive, but one per cent of a million is a lot of fish. Without our one per cent I’m sure the pickerel stock will go down,” said Brooks.
Both worry that is exactly what it will take to get the hatchery reopened – declining fish stock.
The AFIA, with the backing of the EGBSC, are appealing the MNR’s decision for this spawning season, but they are running out of time.
“Time is of the essence. We’ve only got a couple of weeks, tops, to get our ducks in a row and get ready for the spawn,” said Shaw.
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