Historical Context

Historically, fisheries management has focused on individual lakes. This approach was costly and ineffective. It failed to recognize the mobility of anglers. When new regulations are put in place, for example, fishing pressure tends to simply shift to other waterbodies.

The former Fishing Divisions were first established as areas where fishing regulations could be applied over a large area. Managers recognized that the lakes, fish species and fishing pressure were similar in Divisions and thus would respond to management in a similar way.

Over the years, we created several new Fishing Divisions, and set regulations to control exploitation of certain species. Many Divisions were formed using road networks, township or county boundaries, or simply, lines of latitude and longitude.

Over time, there has been a sharp rise in individual lake fishing exceptions across Ontario; division wide regulations were not adequate to control exploitation on all lakes. On some larger lakes, we created individual lake Fishing Divisions to address conservation issues.

The old regulations were complicated, and hard to follow. This can be a barrier for people wanting to get out and fish, and particularly for young people or those for whom English is their second language. The regulations were also hard to enforce.