Manitoba chiefs, commercial fishers call for independent review of Lake Winnipeg's fish population

Manitoba chiefs, commercial fishers call for independent review of Lake Winnipeg's fish population

By Bartley Kives

Source: CBC News

9/12/2020

The Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs and commercial fishers want an independent review of the health and sustainability of Lake Winnipeg's fish populations, after a report they commissioned showed some drastically different results than those released by the provincial government.

The report, produced by the Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre (A/OFRC), was commissioned by AMC and the Pioneer Commercial Fishers of Manitoba, which represents commercial fishers in the province.

The report showed there are some similarities, but also some significant differences, between the analyses conducted by A/OFRC and those published by the Manitoba government, says a news release issued by AMC.

A key finding from the A/OFRC report was that the walleye population is well established, with a less than one per cent chance that the lake has been overfished in 2019, the release says.

The A/OFRC research team is now in the process of evaluating the effects of the province's recent changes to the mesh size of gill nets.