Filling a data gap – Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) index netting in the North Channel of Lake Huron

Abstract

The Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre collaborated with the First Nation communities along the North Channel of Lake Huron – Aundeck-Omni-Kaning, Mississauga, Sagamok Anishnawbek, Serpent River and Wikwemikong Unceded – on a 5-year lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) index netting project. The impetus for this undertaking was concern that adequate information was not available for the derivation of the commercial catch quotas by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Traditional First Nation fishing waters were sampled from 2000 to 2004 using the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources index netting methodology. A total of 2,760 lake whitefish were caught in 468 net sets, representing up to 17 year classes. The catch-per-unit-effort, as well as the number of year classes represented in the catch, was greater in Aundeck-Omni-Kaning than in the other four areas in the North Channel. The size and age at which 50% of lake whitefish are mature, ranged from 350 mm to 520 mm and 3 to 5 years, respectively. The data gathered from this study augmented the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources biological catch data and was used in their statistical catch-at-age models for the derivation of lake whitefish commercial catch quotas in the North Channel.

Keywords:

• First Nation
• commercial catch quotas
• condition
• catch-per-unit-effort

Acknowledgements

Miigwetch to the field crew members who worked in all weather conditions collecting data, and to Maureen Peltier, A/OFRC Fisheries Biologist, for leading the field project. The assistance of Lloyd Mohr, LHMU, and George Morgan and Michael Mallette, Cooperative Freshwater Ecology Unit, was greatly appreciated. Funding for this project was provided by Fed Nor, the Northern Ontario Heritage Funding Corporation, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources through the Anishinabek/ Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre.

Notes

¹project terminated early due to mechanical/boat failure.

¹ Data from the A/OFRC projects described in this report, areas combined.

² Data obtained from OMNR LHMU summary reports (Cottrill 2001, 2002, 2003).

³ Not available.