Whitefish study underway

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In February this year, the Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre learned that it would benefit from a $168,000 provincial investment that would allow it to undertake a three-year study of whitefish stocks and population trends in lakes Huron and Superior. The study, titled the "Assessment of Lake Whitefish Stocks in Support of a Stable, Sustainable First Nation Commercial Fisheries in Lake Huron and Lake Superior," commenced in March.

The fisheries resource centre was established to form a positive working relationship between Union of Ontario Indians (UOI) First Nation communities, provincial agencies and other organizations.

The resource centre provides fisheries assessment and management by employing standardized assessment tools, innovative science and technology, and traditional knowledge to evaluate fish stock status and stresses on fish populations and habitats.

"The centre plays an important role in offering management recommendations, facilitating information sharing and participation to promote sustainable fisheries and resolve conflict," states the centre's mandate.

"We are proud to announce the [resource centre], in conjunction with participating UOI communities, will be proceeding with a three-year project that will study the population of whitefish in upper Great Lakes. Information will be gathered in traditionally fished areas of the participating First Nation communities. The project will incorporate both traditional ecological knowledge and state-of-the-art fisheries science," stated John Seyler, general manager of the resource centre.

"We will be providing the participating communities with the training and knowledge of how to assess fish populations and how to interpret this information. The project will provide each community with a basis for managing local whitefish populations, which have both a commercial and cultural value to these communities," stated Seyler.

Communities along the shorelines of the Great Lakes have a long history of economic and societal benefits gained from commercial fishing. Whitefish have been the mainstay of the commercial fisheries in lakes Huron and Superior. However, the dynamic aquatic ecosystems of the upper Great Lakes undergo large fluctuations in the abundance of various fish species.

The resource centre has undertaken several smaller whitefish assessment projects on Lake Huron over the past four years. These studies led to significant increases in whitefish quotas and a better understanding and management of the fishery.

"The [resource centre] developed this current project proposal based on past experience and extensive consultation with UOI First Nation communities. This project is to initiate effective management of fisheries on lakes Huron and Superior. However, this proposal was too large for us to fund on our own, so we sought financial support from agency partners interested in a project that would see significant immediate and long-term benefits to the fisheries of the upper Great Lakes and economic opportunities for UOI First Nation communities," explained Seyler.

The project objectives are as follows: To build capacity within UOI communities to collect and interpret biological date related to community fisheries management objectives, and to develop business plans for the development and expansion of local commercial fisheries; to provide essential data for long-term management of local fisheries and related economic development for UOI communities; and to provide employment and fisheries assessment training for nine Aboriginal people. The technical expertise will be developed using a workforce from within the participating UOI communities. Other objectives are to increase local economic activities to service the project. Local goods and services providers within the UOI communities will benefit from the project through the purchase of supplies, fuel and accommodation.

Coupled with the project objectives are four main focus ares identified in the study: training and skill sevelopment; science; traditional ecological knowledge; and information dissemination.

"The project will be managed from the [resource centre's] main office in North Bay, with the field work being carried out within the traditional harvest areas of the participating UOI communities located along the north shores of lakes Superior and Huron," explained Seyler.

The project will involve staff from the resource centre, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) and the Science/TEK Board. (TEK means traditional ecological knowledge.) At minimum, the board will include representatives from the MNR, UOI Elders and fishermen, and academics from a northern Ontario university.

The resource centre is to report on year one's activities to the Science/TEK Board and UOI communities in 2003. The second and third years of the study will primarily be for data collection. Information about the status of stock will be collected, analyzed, interpreted and communicated to all participants during the last two years of the project.

A draft report will be produced in December 2004 for the science board and all participants. The science board will meet to develop recommendations on how project results may be used to best serve the interests of the UOI participating communities, managers and stakeholders.