Ontario’s Commercial Fishery

Peter Meisenheimer

Executive Director

Ontario Commercial Fisheries’ Association

A bit of history

• Fishing for trade purposes pre-dates European settlement

• Importance reflected in oral histories and explorers’ accounts

• Onandaga eel clan

A bit more history

• 1st record of “commercial fishing” in Ontario at Burlington Bay in 1790s

• Commercial fishing on all Great Lakes by 1830s

• Well established, although limited in scale, by 1850s

• Small local markets and poor transportation to population centres limited growth at first

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1000

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1867

1878

1889

1900

1911

1922

1933

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1955

1966

1977

1988

1999

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Lake Ontario

Canada (ONT)

Grand Total

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1867

1879

1891

1903

1915

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1999

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Lake Erie

Canada (ONT)

Grand Total

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35000

400001867

1879

1891

1903

1915

1927

1939

1951

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1999

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Lake Huron

Canada (ONT)

Grand Total

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30000

35000

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45000

1867 1883 1899 1915 1931 1947 1963 1979 1995

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Lake Superior

Canada (Ont)

Grand Total

Fisheries Industry Configuration

•Typically 70-85% of Ontario’s landed value from Lake

Erie).

•Processing capacity heavily concentrated on western

Lake Erie.

•Except for ACFL fisheries, exclusively private sector,

with licences and processing capacity held individually, in

partnerships and by companies.

•No access to farm credit lending facilities or government

guarantees of credit

•Processing and production continue to consolidate

2011 Ontario Harvest By Lake

OTHER 2%

ONTARIO

1%

HURON

NIPIGON 1%

SUPERIOR

3%

ERIE

78%

15 %

2011 Total approx 30 Million lbs

•Wheatley 3016 37

•Kingsville 1830 32

•Port Stanley 1468 21

•Erieau 1230 30

•Port Dover 595 15

Landings and Vessels per Harbour 2008

•Goderich 441 5

•Sarnia 367 14

•Bayfield 359 7

•Burnt Island 241 4

•Killarney 194 4

•Squaw Bay 138 2

•Thunder Bay 90 1

•Batchawana Bay 89

•Amethyst Harbour 80 2

•Current River 66 3

Erie

Huron

Superior

Fisheries Management Strategies

•There is a strong bias favouring recreational and charter angling in

public policy

•Since 1984 the commercial fishery has primarily been managed by

individual transferable quotas (ITQs).

•Quotas for most fisheries are set annually by the Ontario Ministry of

Natural Resources based upon information from fisheries catch

statistics and assessments.

•US management agencies involved in setting TACs through the

Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

•Some First Nations have developed allocation and management

processes that are independently administered.

Some Important Dates

• 1981 – Joint Strategic Plan for Management of Great Lakes

Fisheries signed.

• 1982 – Agreement reached between the Ontario industry and OMNR

on “modernizing” the fishery. Formally signed off on by both parties.

• 1985 – Individual transferable quotas implemented as per

agreement. JSPMGLF review. Change of government.

• 1988 – Zebra mussels reported in Lake St. Clair.

• 1990 – Yellow perch TACs added to LEC mandate.

• 1997 – JSPMGLF revised.

The 1982 Ontario “Modernization” Process

• Detailed discussion of issues by managers and

commercial fishery stakeholders

• Aboriginal and non-aboriginal fisheries represented

• Ontario only & fully transparent

• Gaps in understanding and points of contention

specified

• Decisions taken collaboratively

• Signoff by all parties to the decision-making process

• Implementation halted in 1985

Joint Strategic Plan and its products

•Inter-governmental agreement

•Consensus model

•Aims for uniformity of regulation and enforcement

•Decisions made by agency personnel after public

consultation, but in camera.

•Stakeholders not formally involved in technical and

management deliberations

•Degree of public consultation on management decisions

varies by jurisdiction and lake

22

Bi-National Management

Scale of Governance • International Treaties and

Agreements

• National Agreements

• Provincial Legislation,

Frameworks and Plans

• Municipal Plans and

Bylaws

Government Involvement • US & Canadian Federal

Governments

• 8 American States

• 2 Canadian Provinces

Landing

Information

DCR Type

Fish Taken

Home

Comments

Signature

Fishing

Effort

Landed Fish

Released/

Discarded

Emerging (and persistent) issues

• Traceability

• MSC Certification

• Species at Risk

• Capital and credit

• Royalties

• “Green” energy

• Invasive species

• Budget cuts

“I have chosen this project

because my father has

been a commercial

fisherman for all of his life.

He is 41 years old now. I

enjoy when I am allowed

to go fishing with my dad

and the crew.”

“My great-great-

grandfather Joseph

Herbert Sr. fished with

wooden boats out of

Cheboygan Michigan in

the USA and Killarney.

Commercial fishing was

very prosperous in

Georgian Bay between

the 1880s and the 1930s.

We believe that my great-

great-grandfather started

fishing in 1867 with his

wife Josephine Solomon

at his side in Killarney.”

“Commercial fishing has

been in my family for four

generations, and I intend

to continue this on to the

fifth generation, which is

me.”

THANKS