Nipigon River walleye aren’t “hooking up” in the same old places. That’s what Ministry of Natural Resources biologists found when they checked traditional spawning sites and found walleye spawning in new areas.
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| Fisheries biologist holding a walleye from the Nipigon River. Photo: Upper Great Lakes Management Unit/MNR |
Biologists also noted in a recent survey an increase in walleye numbers. Together, these are signs that the walleye in this Area of Concern (AOC) on Lake Superior might be responding to rehabilitation efforts: stocking adult fish, enacting zero harvesting regulations and correcting problems leading to silt and algae fouling spawning areas.
“We haven’t reached our rehabilitation target for populations yet,” says Marilee Chase, COA Lake Superior Basin Coordinator, “but the population is showing signs of recovery.”
The spawning discovery was part of a trap netting and telemetry study in partnership with the Red Rock Indian Band, Anishinabek/Ontario Resource Management Council and Ontario Power Generation. The purpose is to determine the status of walleye populations in Nipigon Bay and identify where these fish spawn in the lower Nipigon River. Researchers are also trap netting and using radio tagging to determine walleye, lake sturgeon and northern pike numbers, and to study patterns of fish movement.
Chase also noted that, earlier in the program, Red Rock Indian Band members conducted hands-on trap netting in the Helen Lake and Polly Lake stretches of the Nipigon system and gave researchers northern pike and walleye in which to place radio transmitters.
Click here to view a map of the project area
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Clearing the Nipigon System’s Name
• Many large bays, estuaries and rivers of Lake Superior once teemed with walleye, but over-harvesting, degraded habitat, poor land use practices along tributaries where the fish spawned, pollution and the construction of dams have taken their toll.
• In the 1980s, the Nipigon Bay area and the Nipigon River were identified as being ecologically impaired, partly because of drastic walleye population declines.
• Today, the focus is on maintaining, improving and restoring habitat to encourage self-sustaining walleye populations in their historic range, enabling the area to one day be removed from a list of Great Lakes environmental hotspots or areas of concern (AOCs).
Project Partners:
- Ontario Power Generation
- Red Rock Indian Band
- Anishinabek/Ontario Resource Management Council
For more information, contact:
- Rob Swainson, Biologist, Ministry of Natural Resources, Nipigon (807) 887-5029
- Marilee Chase, COA Lake Superior Basin Coordinator, Upper Great Lakes Management Unit – Lake Superior, Ministry of Natural Resources, Thunder Bay (807) 475-1371