In the last year we have seen an influx of municipal fishing issues cropping up. These issues are getting anglers concerned, and they are looking to the OFAH for assistance. The reason? Municipalities are trying to deflect their enforcement problems, often unrelated to fishing, through a variety of methods such as restricting access, charging fees and banning fishing for everyone. These decisions obviously do not sit well with anglers because fish and the waterbodies they inhabit are provincial resources, not to mention, anglers pay to fish in Ontario through licence fees and should be able to enjoy the time-honoured activity. For example, the Town of Meaford has been dealing with delinquents at a waterfront park who are vandalizing property, not disposing of fish remnants properly and disrupting other park users. As a result, the municipality’s initial knee-jerk reaction was to shut down all fishing access through the park. Similarly in Bancroft, the town is motioning towards closing off public access to Clark Lake for several reasons including an ill-advised attempt to prevent zebra mussels from spreading to the lake. There are currently a handful of other lakes in the same region where zebra mussels are already established, moreover, there are other means to address concerns surrounding the introduction of invasive species such as public education and outreach. Peterborough County is making backdoor decisions to ban all shoreline fishing along the causeway that crosses Chemong Lake to deal with litter and other concerns. In Port Hope, the town considered a forty dollar municipal access fee to fish the Ganaraska River after dealing with challenges including the improper disposal of fish, littering, resource violations and other issues along the river. This decision was averted for the, and the OFAH has been involved in assisting Port Hope with fishing issues for several years including a 2017 season that showed positive results from these efforts Through stakeholder discussions, communication, cross-training help and education, improvements have been reported throughout the recent salmon run in Port Hope. The OFAH does not support additional fees to access fishing in Ontario and believes that fish and water resources should remain accessible and free from all types of barriers. The OFAH is very concerned with the growing number and diversity of actions being taken by municipalities to restrict access to fishing and continues to work with members and their communities to find solutions that do not restrict access to fishing.
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