A report released yesterday by the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce on the state of the walleye fishery in Lake Nipissing is failing to catch any approval by a couple of groups most affected by it.
Yesterday Nipissing First Nation Chief Scott McLeod called it a "colossal waste of time".
See: Latest walleye study 'a colossal waste of time' says NFN Chief
And now the group that initiated the report in March 2016, the Lake Nipissing stakeholders Association (LNSA), says it's also "disappointed".
Samantha Simpkin, President LNSA says the group partnered with the local Chamber of Commerce to get funding with the aim of delivering an independent study on the walleye fishery.
The final report, by Dr. Doris Smith, was actually released in March to the stakeholders.
"It was very positive and impactful," remembers Simpkin. "It had recommendations that would have driven change for the walleye fishery on Lake Nipissing. However, the release of that report was delayed by two months and now the report is very different from the initial recommendations that were contained in Dr. Smith's report. The LSNA is disappointed because the initial report really had some great ideas we could have taken and run with. One of the biggest was to increase efforts to restock Lake Nipissing by a significant amount that would make a positive impact on the walleye fishery.
"However in the revision of the final report that recommendation is completely removed and I'm not really clear why. There is no scientific evidence saying that there's no reason not to choose broader scale restocking. It's seen in different lakes in Manitoba and Saskatchewan and Michigan as a very positive effort to improve the population of walleye on those lakes. We have a group willing to undertake the effort."
In fact the final report was a complete turnaround and did not support broad scale restocking.
The revisions came after the MNRF got a look at it.
BayToday asked Sr. Media Relations Officer with the MNRF Jolanta.Kowalski if the Ministry had applied any pressure on Smith to change her report.
"The Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry was approached by the consultant working with the North Bay Chamber of Commerce and provided fisheries information through the development of the report," Kowalski replied. "After we received a final copy of the report, ministry staff met with the consultant to discuss areas of concerns, inconsistencies and other ideas to strengthen the report’s content. The Chamber agreed to the suggested MNRF revisions.
"We have reviewed the report and recommendations. We are pleased that the Chamber supports two actions that the ministry has taken to 1) better understand walleye catch and release mortality and 2) the impact of double crested cormorants on the lake’s fish community. The ministry also agrees with the recommendation to undertake a further study on stress levels of catch and release on walleye."
Simpkin says she's aware that the MNRF asked for some changes to the report and gave some input."We're disappointed the report basically regurgitated the same kind of things that have been said in the past and doesn't leave us with anything we can take and run with. We were very hopeful that the funding that was provided for the independent report would allow us to take that recommendation of increased stocking and run with it and make a significant difference to the walleye population
"I think the Chief is doing a good job. It's the government that is creating the problem by keeping us from working together. We've got the same goal, the same desires."
Dr. Smith is away and not available for an interview.
