400 Muskies set free in Spanish River
Successful release say volunteers
Volunteers joined Ministry of Natural Resources personnel on May 31 to
release 200 muskellunge yearlings into the lower Spanish River in an effort to
restock the fish population.
The efforts to restore the muskellunge to the lower Spanish River and
Georgian Bay is a joint project involving the Friends of the Spanish River,
corporate partnership with Domtar, Inco and Falconbridge, and the MNR.
Pat Parker, Domtar’s Espanola Mill manager, was one of the participants on
the trip down the lower Spanish River and into the delta at the mouth of the
river.
"I enjoyed it," he said of the excursion. "It’s exciting to
see one-year old muskies being released into the river."
This is the 5th year that the release program has been in place.
"We get to see the beginning and the end of the process," Parker
said. "The eggs are collected and stored in the old Powerhouse (in
Espanola). They are hatched then sent to Sir Sanford Fleming College where they
are grown. Most of (the fingerlings) are put back in the fall, but they are only
a few inches in length."
"This year another 400 fingerlings were kept and grown into fish,"
Parker said.
Bill McKenna, a volunteer with the Friends of the Spanish River, credits the
efforts of Al Chamberlain of Lindsay, with the large crop of yearlings.
"To keep 400 of these voracious eaters, it’s an incredible task and so
difficult to do," he said.
McKenna estimated that each muskie represents a $30 investment per fish and
with 400 fish to be released, that represents an estimated total of $12,000. And
those participating in the release, which included Parker and his wife, MNR
biologists Chris and Wayne Selinger and Ken Johnson, Friends of the Spanish
River volunteers McKenna and Marcel Golec were extra careful with releasing the
fish, McKenna said.
"It took all afternoon, but we wanted to make sure each was released in
the exact right spot," he said adding that each was released carefully into
the waters of the Spanish River and the delta at the mouth of the river.
"Where we released each one, that is its home, it will grow and mate
there."
Parker added that by growing the fish into yearlings, "it gives them a
better chance of survival. To us this muskie program represents a mature stage
of the river’s rehabilitation."
"With a healthy carnivorous population, it signals that the top of the
food chain is looked after." Parker recognized that in order to have the
muskie population healthy, the eco-system at the lower end of the food chain
must be healthy.
"We feel this is an important step to restoring the natural balance of
things," he said.
McKenna echoed those statements. "It’s a privilege to be part of this
project and very rewarding. We like to think we are making a difference."
"We are asking anyone who does catch a muskie to record the size and
photo and let the MNR or myself know," McKenna said. "We’d also like
people to release them back."
"I heard of someone catching a muskie off of the Webbwood bridge and
they didn’t release it because they thought it was a pike," he added.
McKenna added a reminder that the two fish are similar in shape except for
some distinguishing features. "The Muskie have dark spots on a light
background while pike are the opposite. They have light spots on a dark
background."