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Saint John River History
SJRiver Chapter MCI Poster from
2014 International Muskie Symposium
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August 14-15 2014, the Muskie world came together at Carleton
University for a series of very informative presentations and
discussions. The theme of the symposium was "Muskellunge Science and
Management; Progress Through Partnership". The agenda and abstracts
from the presentations is available
HERE
Results & key messages:
(From notes from Steve Kerr, Hedrik and myself):
Dr John Casselman gave an outstanding presentation of his analysis of
data from Muskies Canada and Muskies Inc. He found that:
- Current Muskellunge management approach is working.
- Catch and release is now well established and is having an impact.
- - Fish are getting bigger - median size is of fish increasing.
- Consensus across researchers, managers and stakeholders that
preserving/enhancing nursery habitat is of critical importance to
sustainability.
- Biggest threat is lack of awareness -need more public outreach.
- Muskellunge fishery is a model for other fisheries.
- current science-based management regime is working (bigger fish,
higher catch rates, self sustaining populations, etc.)
- information gaps include early life history habitat requirements -
research priority.
- future threats include invasive species (including northern pike)
and habitat loss.
- the cooperative approach to muskellunge management has clearly been
successful - much more has been accomplished than ever could have been
done without partnerships.
- genetics is an important component of muskellunge management.
- habitat enhancement should be a key component of management efforts
in the future.
- Canada managing wild/self sustaining stocks thru regs only,
- US ( Wisc,Minn) managing thru regs and comprehensive stocking ( 70k
per yr in Wisc). Both seem to be working.
- big take home message is the integration of musky managers,
stakeholders, and researchers. Everyone is on board and understands
the major threats and challenges for muskies.
- as John pointed out, biggest threat are uneducated anglers that will
not follow the rules re: musky catch and handling.
- lots of excellent research out there, focus on preserving spawning
and nursery habitat to maintain natural recruitment.
Wic gets 400K anglers fishing muskie at least once a year.
- Canada low budget compared to US states where money comes from not
only license sales but also on sportfishing sales taxes allocated by
numbers of license sales.
- In last 20 years, DNA work for Ont indicates many distinct sub pops
( each unique, show fidelity) 9 - GB, 2 Ottawa, 1 in Rideau , Mad
different, 1 in Kawarthas over many lakes, etc.
- Threats- knowledge gaps in steps to restoration of pops (
spanish,simcoe) - DNA of current fish in those locations not
reflecting that of stocked fish, nursery food webs, correct slop, etc.
- appropriate laws available for habitat protection ( especially
shoreline).
- pike invasion in KW...money for muskie research.
- VHS ( 26 types) and movements of baitfish across watersheds.
- current low YOY recruitment at GB and Larry may reflect future
decline in those fisheries.
How it all came together:
The last time this type of symposium was held in Canada was 19 years
ago when Steve Kerr and MNR held the "Managing Muskies in the 90's"
symposium, of which the papers continue to be in demand.
Steve Kerr has long been a friend to Muskie management and research.
When he retired from his former position as Senior Fisheries
Biologist, MNR, he approached Muskies Canada to see if we would be
interested in planning a new symposium. Muskies Canada at national and
chapter level responded enthusiastically so the stage was set. We
organized a planning committee involving Dr. Steven Cooke and Dr. Jon
Midwood from Carleton University, Hedrik Wachelka, James Akers and
myself from the Ottawa Chapter, and Chris Purdy representing MCI
national.
Partnership - a key to success:
The overall theme focused on how partnership at all levels is
contributing to the success of Muskie science and management. The
event itself was a partnership and it nicely illustrated that together
we can accomplish that we couldn't do individually.
- Carleton provided an exceptional venue, great expertise and planning
help from Dr,. Cooke and Dr. Midwood. They were instrumental in
assembling an excellent agenda and bringing in outstanding speakers
from around the (Muskie) world. In addition, the Cooke lab provided
almost a dozen student volunteers to help with everything from set-up
to registration. Carleton's location was also very convenient to the
airport and we had the opportunity to stay in residence dorms at very
modest cost. What a nice coincidence that the Brewer Park Pond site
was just across the road so we were able to take a site tour and look
at the Rideau River and it's relationship with the current pond, and
visualize how the site will be transformed when the project is
completed.
Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forests (note the name
change) helped by providing many speakers and resource people
including: Dan Taillon (overview), Arunas Liskauskas (Georgian Bay
area), Mark Robbins (enforcement), and Gabrielle Liddle (Simcoe
project). The Ministry also paid for the publishing of the symposium
abstract.
Muskies Canada Inc. (national) supported the event by funding the
database/registration system, hosted on a new Muskies Canada symposium
website. Thanks to Dan Araquel and James Akers, this registration
system used the same overall framework that we use for membership but
adapted for use by a specific event. This model is now available for
use for official outing registration or other events where attendance
needs to be managed in an easy-to-use system. In addition, Muskies
Canada (national) provided up-front funds to support speakers, the
unique speaker thank you item and overall admin costs. Registration
fees were paid back to national and final results show that the event
was very close to having a balanced budget (within $134.08). Thanks go
to the BOD and Dave Adamson, National Treasurer for helping make this
work. President Chris Purdy was a great supporter, participant in the
planning committee and did an excellent presentation at the event.
Tom McCutcheon and Paul Gasparino of the KL chapter came to the event
to make a presentation on Pike invasion in the Kawarthas. Tom was also
a big help (in more ways than one) in setting up the Muskies Canada
Booth.
Last but not least was the support for the event from the Ottawa
chapter. Hedrik Wachelka, James Akers and I worked with the planning
committee over the past year to develop the approach, contact the
speakers, plan the event operations and support the logistics. Ottawa
also provided volunteers to help with set-up and tear-down (a big
thank you to Ross Nicholls). No Muskie symposium would be complete
without some time for our guests on the water. We were able to muster
several boats to take out participants and speakers on both the day
before and day after the event for some Muskie fishing. Larry
Lambourne, Bill Fuller, Paul Didaskalou, Chris Purdy and I took out
boatloads of guests to our world famous Muskie waters. Thanks also to
Bob Syrenne, Tom Howson and Bob Wight for their offers of support and
help. Everyone had a great time and we made some new friends in the
process.
Joe Spagnoli stole the show with his unique speaker thank-you item.
Rather than doing a framed certificate or plaque, we decided to go to
one of our very talented lure-makers and have a limited edition Muskie
lure with the symposium name and date incorporated into the design.
Joe did a terrific job and provided with 25 unique lures in a numbered
series to be given to speakers. It was a big hit, and totally
appropriate for a Muskie event.
Success
I think we all came away with a feeling that this symposium was a
great initiative. Muskies Canada was very prominent. We shared
important information, had a window into the vital research that is is
underway and we were able to compare and contrast current management
practices in Ontario, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and New York, as well as
Pike management in the Baltic region of Sweden.
We also learned that Muskies Inc will be holding a symposium in
Minnesota in March 2016 as part of their 60th anniversary
celebrations.
Dr. Steven Cooke commented:
"I want to congratulate all of you for making the event such a
success. From the Carleton side, I did nothing and Jon Midwood (and
various student volunteers) did EVERYTHING! Huge thanks to Jon for
representing my lab and Carleton so professionally. It was remarkable
to sit back and take in such high quality talks delivered by THE
experts and interact with the end users of scientific knowledge. I
know that all of the students in my lab learned much from the
experience – especially the networking event. I attend lots of
conferences around the globe and this one shines for its simplicity,
diversity and level of interaction.
This event is yet another realization of the strength and depth of the
partnerships that exist! Thanks and congrats to all… "
Chris Purdy said:
"I have received nothing but positive feedback and all of those in
attendance who I have spoken with enjoyed the speakers, the
organization and generally had a great time."
Steve Kerr was pleased with the result:
"I did a lot of reflecting on the symposium on my drive home and
believe that we should all be very proud of the symposium outcome - I
too had many positive remarks on the quality of the presentations and
the networking opportunities.
It was a real pleasure to work with everyone on the organizing
committee to pull this off - just another example of progress through
partnerships."
The future:
Muskies Inc's planned symposium in 2016 provides us an opportunity to
continue to share info on science and research and to and exchange
about management practices. We heard loud and clear that catch and
release is working and that we have a model fisheries management
approach that should be adopted for other species. Muskies Canada is
showing strong leadership in its efforts to develop and enhance a
sustainable fishery of "wild" fish. It's working. Let's keep up the
good work and continue to develop and share this successful approach.
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