Fisheries Management Zone 6 (Thunder Bay, Nipigon and Dryden)

Fisheries Management Zone 6 (FMZ 6) lies immediately north and east of Lake Superior.  It encompasses a large portion of the MNR administrative district of Thunder Bay, as well as smaller portions of the Nipigon and Dryden Districts. FMZ 6 also includes the islands in Nipigon Bay and St. Ignace and Simpson Islands in Lake Superior. View a map of FMZ 6 (PDF, 2.1 mb).

Communities within FMZ 6 include Thunder Bay and Nipigon together with smaller communities such as Red Rock, Upsala, Dorion and Kakabeka Falls.  Aboriginal Communities with an interest in FMZ 6 include: Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek, Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek, Fort William First Nation, Lac des Mille Lacs First Nation, Red Rock Indian Band, Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek, and Whitesand First Nation.

                                                                                 

FMZ 6 encompasses all of the former fishing divisions 21 and 34 and parts of former fishing divisions 22 and 33.  The three waterbodies of Lake Nipigon, Lac des Mille Lacs and Whitefish Lake have been identified as Specially Designated Waters.

 

Fisheries Management Zone 6 supports important recreational and tourism-based fisheries. The most prominent fish species in FMZ 6 are: walleye, lake trout, northern pike, small mouth bass, brook trout, lake whitefish, lake herring, yellow perch, and lake sturgeon. Rainbow trout and splake are stocked into many lakes for additional angling opportunities.  The variety and abundance of fish species makes FMZ 6 a popular fishing destination for resident and non-resident anglers.

                                                                               

Fisheries Management Planning in FMZ 6

 

Photo credit: Carl Tallon

The overall objective of Fisheries Management Zone planning is to maintain healthy aquatic ecosystems that provide sustainable benefits, contributing to society’s present and future requirements for a high-quality environment, wholesome food, employment and income, recreational activity and cultural heritage.

 

With input from the Fisheries Management Zone 6 Advisory Council, the Ministry of Natural Resources has identified the following goals for the Fisheries Management Plan for FMZ 6:

 

a)  To optimize social, cultural and economic opportunities and values derived through the biologically sustainable use of aquatic resources, and,

 

b)  To protect genetic, species and ecosystem diversity within FMZ 6.

 

Part a) of the broad management goal incorporates the concept that there are biological limits to the use of fisheries resources.  It also recognizes that unless use of the fisheries resource is biologically sustainable, Ontarians will be unable unable to derive social, cultural or economic benefits and opportunities over the long term.

 

Part b) recognizes that there is a hierarchy of biological diversity that needs to be considered and protected.  It is this hierarchy which encompasses genetic, species and ecosystem diversity that contribute to the biological well-being of the fisheries resources in FMZ 6.

 

 

Your Comments Were Appreciated!

MNR has now completed the Fisheries Management Plan for FMZ 6.

• Review the approved Fisheries Management Plan for FMZ 6 (PDF, 432 kb)
  
• Review the Executive Summary of the Fisheries Management Plan (PDF, 52 kb)
  
  

We invite you to review the decision for the Fisheries Management Plan for FMZ 6 on the Environmental Registry.

 

 

Contact Information

For more information contact the MNR Project Team in Thunder Bay at (807) 475-1471.