(Image of dead salmon wasting away along shores of the Ganaraska river)
The fall salmon run has been a good one this year in Port Hope. Fish have been travelling through the town’s fish ladder by the hundreds, and hoards of fishermen, some with no common sense or respect, are right there to intercept them.
Our friend Chessy is a resident of Port Hope and an active participant in monitoring trout and salmon activity along the river. This year he’s noticing a rather disturbing trend…
Anglers just tossing their catch along the shore after stripping the fish clean of their eggs.
Not only are river anglers casting huge salmon aside like garbage, there are pop bottles, coffee cups and other sorts of litter strewn all along the river banks.
“People are catching salmon, gutting them and taking eggs and leaving the carcass behind” Said Chessy “My son kicked in 43 dead Chinooks back into the river that were gutted or dead from guys who don’t take the time to revive the fish”
“My son and i even pulled 2 fish from the local bargain shop parking lot that were gutted and placed in a pot hole so they would not be seen”
Now I ask you, is this the sort of behaviour anyone should be proud of??
Chessy goes on…
“The local parks department finally hauled several hundred pounds of fish guts to the dump from our local FREE fish cleaning station. Some of the fish were whole (12) that were stripped of eggs and left in the cleaning station for the town to clean up and get rid of…”
“It is so bad that our local police are now coming to calls and taking info to pass on or charge those when caught. We actually had people netting at 2 pm in the afternoon on a long week end with dozens of others fishing and watching them do it .
(This photo depicts someone, with blatant disregard for the law, netting salmon on the Ganny in broad daylight. Photo taken Wednesday at 2 :00 PM)
As Chessy puts it…”this just goes to show the mentality of some people ..”
Pretty sad if you ask me and not the sort of activity to shed any of us in a very good light.
Outdoorsguy
Thanks jeff for bringing this to light… i am glad you only posted the “good photos” . people you don’t realize the fish and the different stages of decomposition of these fish .. when the wind blows the right direction the town stinks
I heard the Police officers at the Ganaraska rivers at Port Hope don’t care about this behaviour and the illegal fishing (snagging) going on because they say that the MNR does not care either. I’ve had several sources cite this same knowledge. I believe the public will continue to act this way as long as our governing bodies and authorities continue to allow this.
Each year i go to the ganny for salmon fishing (catch & release) and i see it each time, fish on the shore of the river dead whit open body just for eggs it’s not acceptable.
moi je suis belge et je vais aussi pêcher sur la garanaska mais quand je vois cela, je me dis qu au Canada vous avez la chance d encore avoir du saumon, ici en Belgique on essaye de le ré introduire,car il a completement dissparu.
Je fais 6600 km pour le pecher , photo et le relâcher ! prenez soin du saumon !!!!!
I’m Belgian and I also fish on Garanaska but when I see this, I think that in Canada you have the chance to still have salmon. Here in Belgium, we’re try to re-introduce these fish, because they completely gone.
I travel 6600 km to fish, take a photo and then release!
take care of the salmon!!
Close the river simple as that… Or easier, a gang of conservation officers handing out 300-500$ tickets.
I think one thing in general would help, get the names of these criminals and publicly admonish them – as far as I’m concerned there is far too little publicity of events such as these to reduce their occurance.
If their family friends, and co-workers would know, I think it would help to deter others…
Friggin’ numbskulls….
If you guys think you’re upset now, check out the latest photo I just added!
Outdoorsguy
the new photo was taken yesterday. behind the lcbo store her excuse was “we did not know”. it is every body from every country from every age doing this . The ganaraska is not the only river this is going on at and this river does not require anything special. All rivers should be treated the same by enforcement but there is so few of the in the area it is horrible
Forgive me for not getting something here, are these fish not edible or are these morons just taking the eggs to use as bait? I am finding it hard to understand why someone would even do this.
the sale of “eggs” has grown in the few years ever since the mnr passed a law stated the stores could only buy it from licensed hatcheries, the black market has grown considerably, also guys use it for chum for white fish they can use up to a 5 gallon bucket of eggs easy is it right no is it legal to chum yes. also it is illegal to leave your carcasses in the water or on shore within the high water mark and low water mark
This is terrible. Thanks for sharring this info Chessy. What are the regulations for salmon fishing? Are the regs part of the reason why they are not keeping the tasty fish?
every year, the exact same time of year….exact same place every year. every year NOTHING is done about it from the MNR or OPP….its completely disgusting to watch and it makes me sick in the stomach.
Where the H*** are the CO’s?????????????
This is shocking. I don’t understand why the Ministry is not doing something about this. Lord knows they have all the time and resources in the world to patrol our hunting trails, even in the winter on expensive snow machines. Perhaps they should redirect some resources to the more pressing issue in Port Hope.
This is just not going on only at the Ganaraska river apparently this is going on at allot of other rivers , We have one CO and he does from newcastle to brighton ontario to north to almost peterbough that is allot of water and that includes rice lake , They are so understaffed from what i have been told it is not fare to blame the co . something has to change like give the police all the powers of a co or hire deputies to enforce the minor violations
@Chessy
congrats on the win, I won the Tinks package a couple years ago, great package
QUOTE:Herman Baguss says:
September 13, 2012 at 5:08 pm
Where the H*** are the CO’s?????????????
There is only one left and he didn’t have any money left to put gas in his truck
Hunting mom, I haven’t seen a CO in years so I just don’t think there are that many of them any more. I see the Americans pulling bass off the nests every spring but I have yet to see a CO on my lake in the 10 years I have been there. Not once.
Maybe we, as responsible law abiding citizens, should start posting pictures of offenders on Flakebook or videos on Youtube. Sadly enough it seems like that is the only way to generate any interest these days.
Certainly not much sense calling the MNR or the OPP that’s for sure.
@ iggy Thanks. on the win
Instead of the provicial and federal government giving 1.7 million to a conservation group maybe they should spend that on a few dozen CO . we have absoultly no enforcement any more not like years ago..
hey does anyone remember what happened in westport a few years back , similar thing pochers robbing a fish sanctuary on nightly basis MNR does nothing as usual and locals decide to take things into their own hands … didnt go well for some “poachers” matter of fact i think a few went for a cold swim into the westport pond ..lol
Johan your certainly right about not wasting your time calling the MNR ….
I don’t understand why I am constantly seeing conservation officers in my area ( wmu 58). One weekend last winter we were setting our trail cam and we saw the same conservation officers at least three times over the course of the weekend. They were driving bright shiny new snowmobiles.
@matt
wern’t the poacher non born Canadians, and the MNR was afraid of the racial angle, and if I’m not mistaken, some of the vigilantes were charged
Chessy, 1.7 mil might get you 6 CO’s for one year
@ Hunting mom maybe the mnr does not care about the salmon after all the rumors i have heard it does not surprise me .. but if you ever made a mistake in tagging a deer or not wearing proper orange your a$$ would be grass but kill fish by the dozens and it is ok
ya iggy i think it escalated into a “racial ” problem .. not sure about the what kind of charges were laid on the vigilantes but you can be sure the poachers werent charged ..
here’s a link jeff not sure if you can post it or not , but here goes
http://www.review-mirror.com/regionalnews/illegalfishingarchive.html#10
@ matt. the ofah took a hit on that . a person used there letter head and their position on the ofah to write a letter and said if you see a person of certain ethnic back ground ask to see there license .. the ofah was reprimanded by the human rights committee and now has to post a yearly Racal statement
I’m changing the subject Jeff I know, but I just couldn’t help myself
===========================================================================
I got two letters in the mail this week, both envelopes had
ONTARIO
Outdoor Card Centre
PO Box 9000
Peterborough Ont
printed on the outside
and both envelopes had advertising in them for Ontario Out of Doors
and Outdoor Canada magazines
just wondering what this advertising has to do with The Outdoor Card Centre
The Outdoor Card Centre is part of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resourses
where you get your hunting and fishing cards from
sent a letter off to an MPP
===============================================
Last week in the mail, I got two envelopes from the Outdoors Card Centre
an Ontario government department that issues outdoor cards for hunters and fishermen
I opened both, and inside both envelopes were advertisements for Ontario Out Of Doors magazine and Outdoor Canada magazine
Normally I would have thrown both in the recycle bin without even opening them
but I think I was tricked into opening them by the letterhead on the envelope that clearly said
Outdoor Card Centre
My question, is this right
what’s next, will Sears be allowed to post advertising with Canada Revenue Agency envelopes
I understand that these two magazines paid the Outdoor Card Centre to stuff the envelopes
but clearly they should not be allowed to use envelopes that I the taxpayer paid for
and even if the reimbursed the government for the envelopes, having
The Outdoor Card Centre letterhead on the envelopes for commercial use is wrong
================================================================================
am I wrong on this?
Hunt camp anyone?
http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/hunting/heading-off-to-hunt-camp-anyone/
Outdoorsguy
One solution would be to simply ban the use of roe! This a highly unethical method for catching steelhead. It is time for attitudes to start changing. For all you centerpinners,there are many other very effective options to drift under your floats. Yes you may not have as many hookups, but so what! Steelhead are a precious resource that deserve more respect than someone with a float rod and roe bags walking into a hole and hooking every fish in it and bragging about all the hook ups they had. Hooking fish on roe is easy and it does not make you a good angler! By the way the use of roe is banned in most every country in the world that is known for trout or salmon fishing! It seems that in Ontario it is all about numbers. I run into guys all the time who grumble because they only had 10 or fifteen hookups in a day. Really guys how many fish do you need to catch before you can say you are having a good day! Also taking roe from the hens is really ridiculous when you think about it. That roe you steal from those hens are steelhead that will never be born further having a negative impact on the resource. Steelhead are noble precious resource that deserve more respect and it is time for attitudes to change!
Well another year of ganny fishing is approaching and I’m sure will be seeing the same bad habits as stated above. I will personally contact authorities if I see any illegal activities when it comes to catching salmon this year. Especially when people are doing it just for the eggs. Hopefully the authorities step it up a bit this year and throw out some fines. There is no excuse for stupidity
port hope police have been enforcing parts of the fish and wildlife act. and have been walking river in plain clothes .. they are giving no warnings just fines… if your in the area and see a violation call 905 885 8141 the will come
Hey Chessy, that is great news! Hopefully they are putting a stop to people throwing dead fish everywhere too…sounds like things are changing for the better, Ièm glad to hear it.
Outdoorsguy
Get a grip you bunch of ninny’s.
i fish the ganny every year for spring steelhead in april and theres also people stripping there eggs and leaving fish every were sumthin should be done about this or conservation officers need to eat more dounts like the cops do to stay in shape to stop this sh..t
all fly fishers call them selfs anglers well ur not ur snaggers all u people no how to fish is flossing the fish the fish will bite the hook if u give them a chance
New Bounder is out:
http://blogs.canoe.ca/outdoorsguy/outdoors/bounder-magazine-5th-anniversay/
Outdoorsguy
this years opner for steelhead was awsome was no prob for me at all to get 20 fish or more a day was a blast on the ganny and sylvin glen
catch and release for salmon… best joke ive heard all year… you want to catch a decomposing fish only to release it to die… awesome
@ Peter. if you dont release the fish how do you expect more in the furture . we need them to reproduce so we can have more in the furture ….. your coment s the “best joke ive heard in years “
peter, you are assuming that EVERY LAST salmon caught in the river is ‘post-spawn’..not the case my friend!
Outdoorsguy
Call and flood the Minister’s Office with complaints and also, your local MPP – have the local MPP come down to the river to see this for himself ! And what about the Mayor’s office !!
Since this article was posted and even delivered a copy to the town hall . The town has been very vocal in its attempt to get more enforcement on the river . The town has been successful in getting a good response from the COs around . in the last two years we have had 4-6 wardens travel the river with a dog (one of four in all of Ontario) and lots of charges laid. This past weekend two wardens were out and on there very first stop they laid 7 charges 5 for improper fishing tecquniqes (snagging) those tickets are for 240 bucks each and 2 for fishing in sanctuary and they are extremely costly . they said they were down river the day before and got 15 guys in one pool for attempting to hook fish other than mouth . The wardens have way to big a area for them to be everywhere at the same time but since 2012 the river has cleaned up .. but it still needs a lot more .
These BASTARDS should be gutted and thrown in the river.There is no excuse for this type of behavior.I only wish the M N R had the resources and people to police the rivers.The MORONS that do things like this should be dealt with one way or another.If the law cant do it the people should be allowed to.
Peter – you’re a genius bud. Catch and release of spawning salmon a joke? I think you need someone to draw a picture for you.
I have lived in Cobourg for 8 years now and see these idiots all the time killing fish, ive aso fished for 30plus years and most of the time these activities are happening its almost always out of town idiots killing the fish and leaving their garbage.the more the idiots do the more spots along the creek are closed off to respectful fishermen like myself.i think taking these idiots pictures and posting them is the best idea there is.public embarrassment works in almost all situations.i have 2 small kids that love fishing ad I can only hope they have the same experience and chance to catch fish as I have.
the whole ethnic card id far overused these days , if anyone cared to open their eyes they would notice the minority is WHITE, also if we are all to be considered equal isn’t it about time that other ethnic groups started following the fishing laws of this country as we do.good luck and good fishing everyone.
this makes me sick…my bro in Chilliwack showed me a pic he took just recently on the upper Vedder river of the same thing…all rotting springs stripped of their eggs
It’s sad seeing what is happening along our rivers, the slaughter of fish just for eggs and others keeping everything they catch. Not to mention the garbage people leave, now that I grew up I don’t even leave my cigarette butts. These rivers/creeks are some beautiful aces lose to the city with great fishing opportunities. Let’s keep it that way. THE MNR NEEDS TO HAVE MORE OF A PRESENCE ON OUR STREAMS AND SCREW THE ONES THAT ARE SCREWING US ALL. For those that don’t know, artificial baits work, I haven’t harvested a fish for roe since I was a teenager, I’m 37 now. I do get out fished, but also our fish many. ITS ABOUT THE TIME ON THE WATER TO ENJOY.
Something needs to be done about this disregard for our wildlife..and it starts with a petition to the government to uphold the law and enforce the laws that protect our fishery’s ..I also feel that the fisherman that observe this behavior shld be making sm sort of effort to stop these criminals when they are observed doin this sort of thing…If this was going on In my backyard, Id be doing something about it….
i,ve seen this sorta crap and took me a bit to figure out why all these fish were sitting on the banks till i picked a few up and noticed what these asses were doin i couldn,t believe that they were just taking the eggs n tossin the fish my friends and myself were totally flabbergasted at the waste of fish trust me if we see anyone doin this kinda practise while were down there this year we will be taking care of business before we call in the authorities Disturbed Angry Angler .
Thanks .. I have been keeping this tight lipped .. the MNR must changed the rules on possession of fish .
This breaks my heart. Some people are sick. I’m with you Mark Warren. If I see some one doing this it could get ugly real quick.
I really hope this doesn’t make me racist but I’ve seen a ton of Asian people netting fish and putting them in Rubbermaid totes. This one time in bowmanville I witnessed a group of Asian men at the dam around 11 at night with a fridge cart, 3 Rubbermaid totes, and a huge dip net. Not a single rod. Don’t get me wrong people of all races do this kind of filth especially when it comes to eggs, but mostly Asian. And when they get confronted all of a sudden they don’t speak English and what not… it’s a load of horse crap if you ask me!
It wrong and needs to be stopped. The Ministry needs to make examples of these people. Teach everyone it’s illegal to kill and discard. You need to bring fish with you. Period!
Tony
Wow I have fished for 48 years mostly fly fishing and I feel guilty the odd time when I forget to de barb my hooks . I started fishing the ganny for three years now and have noticed lots of this type of activity . Snagging , fighting over spots , people that have forgotten how to just enjoy a day of peaceful fishing . One problem is there are many levels of fisherman and this is clear ! Educate is my mission to help others learn proper fishing methods , make a friend it way easier !
Keith