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The provincial government is investing over $75 million to support Ontario’s fish population.

The money is going towards supporting upgrades at provincial fish culture stations.

Fish are raised in the stations before being released into lakes to support fishing and conservation.

Infrastructure upgrades are planned for three significant stations to help increase the production of key fish species, supporting fish stocking efforts.

These upgrades include:

• Construction of a new building for raising walleye at the Blue Jay Creek Fish Culture Station on Manitoulin Island to increase the production of walleye by as much as 600 per cent annually
• Improvements to the North Bay Fish Culture Station to enable the stocking of over 555,000 high-demand fish, including brook trout, lake trout and rainbow trout
• Upgrades to the Hill’s Lake Fish Culture Station in Englehart to increase its capacity to raise and stock over 530,000 popular fish including splake and aurora trout

“These investments are great news for fishing enthusiasts across Ontario. We are modernizing Ontario’s world-class fish culture and stocking program making sure we are best positioned to meet current and future needs,” said the Minister of Natural Resources, Graydon Smith. “These improvements will contribute to the sustainable management of fish populations and add to the economic and social benefits of fishing in Ontario.”

Other planned improvements include replacing aging infrastructure with modern equipment, increasing capacity for growing larger fish to enhance the number of fish available to anglers, and making operations more efficient and cost-effective.

“Stocking is an important fisheries management tool that can provide diverse angling opportunities, help rehabilitate depleted stocks and divert angling effort away from more sensitive fisheries,” said Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Executive Director, Matt DeMille. “To get the most out of these important infrastructure upgrades, MNR will need to evaluate the performance of its entire stocking program and establish FMZ-level stocking strategies to benefit fisheries and enhance the angler experience.”

Each year the Ministry of Natural Resources stocks approximately eight million fish weighing a combined 200 metric tons into more than 1,200 public waterbodies.