Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre

A/OFRC Hosts at the American Fisheries Society Conference

A/OFRC Moderator Maureen Peltier presents Steve Sandstrom with a gift after his presentation at the 2008 American Fisheries Society conference in Ottawa.

More than 1,600 fisheries scientists from around the world attended the American Fisheries Society (AFS) 138th Annual Meeting at the Ottawa Congress Centre and Westin Hotel, August 17-21, 2008. It included 36 organized symposia, more than 1,100 oral presentations, and over 220 poster presentations. Highlighting this international conference was a full day session, Wednesday August 20th/08, hosted by the Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre (A/OFRC) titled; “The Changing Role of First Nation/Tribal Communities in Fisheries Management”. Each presentation had an average of 50 participants attending. Presenters were selected from across North America (including the Anishinabek Nation) representing native communities and fisheries organizations. A balance of traditional and scientific values was used to express the approach native communities have when managing their fisheries. The day began with a Sunrise Ceremony to welcome the new day and the participants.

Presentations included; Building Capacity Through Education for Resource Management, Community Based Fish Habitat Assessments, Community Fisheries in the Maritimes, Community Based Harvest in the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Native Fisheries Management in P.E.I., Social Identity in Kwakwaka’wakw Clam Management, Changing Skies, Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre – A Cooperative Model for Fisheries Information, The Treatment of Native People in the Development of Canadian Fishery Policy in the Great Lakes, Strategic Directions of a Rights Based Fishery, Lake Whitefish Assessment in the North Channel of Lake Huron, Nipissing First Nation and Lake Nipissing – Building and managing a Modern Commercial Fishery, Update on Wisconsin 1837 and 1842 Ceded Territory Inland Fisheries, Stewardship in the Big River and Knowledge Acquisition About Mature Lake Sturgeon.

Each year the Annual Meeting serves as a platform for the international exchange on the latest advances in fisheries science and management for experts from over 70 countries. This year’s meeting theme was “Fisheries in Flux: How Do We Ensure Our Sustainable Future?” Next year the AFS conference will take place in Nashville Tennessee.

Stream Assessment in Kaboni Creek

A/OFRC Biologist Maureen Peltier and Wikwemikong Lands Department Summer Student Quinton Peltier conduct electrofishing in Kaboni Creek while Fisheries Intern Sarah Couchie looks on.

This past July, A/OFRC Biologist Maureen Peltier and Fisheries Intern Sarah Couchie completed a Stream Assessment of Kaboni Creek in Wikwemikong Uncededed Indian Reserve using electrofishing techniques. The project followed the Ontario Stream Assessment Protocol in which two 40m stretches of the stream, that represented at least one riffle-pool sequence beginning and ending at a crossover point, were identified for survey purposes. One site was in the upper reaches of the creek while the other was near the mouth of the creek where it meets South Bay.

Once sites were identified, site features and dominant vegetation types as well as benthic macroinvertebrates were assessed. Some species identified were roundworms, mayflies, stoneflies, snails, beetles, dragonflies, scuds, caddisflies, black flies, water mites, mosquitoes, and crayfish.

After sorting through hundreds of bugs, a state-of-art LR-24 electrofisher was used to sample the fish community. Species caught included rainbow trout, brook stickleback, common shiner, blacknose dace, redbelly dace, rock bass, mottled sculpin, white sucker, central mudminnow, bluntnose minnow, johnny darter, creek chub and brassy minnow.

Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve - SPIN

A/OFRC Fisheries Intern Sarah A. Couchie and Wikwemikong Fisheries Worker George Pitawanakwat set nets on South Bay .

A/OFRC community Liaison Specialist Perry McLeod-Shabogesic visited the Wikwemikong Summer Profundal Index Netting (SPIN) recently on South Bay. It is hoped that further information can be gathered on targeted lake trout in the bay. Incidental whitefish caught will also be sampled.