Volunteers wanted for fin clipping at Port Elgin Hatchery

Printed Mar 09, 2022  •  Final up to date Mar 10, 2022  •  2 minute learn

Dave Myette joined Saugeen District Senior School Grade 9 student volunteers Owen Richardson and Blake Lamont in fin clipping Rainbow trout at the Kincardine Fish Hatchery Feb. 26. [Hannah MacLeod/Postmedia News}

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The presence or absence of the dorsal or adipose fin on a Rainbow trout signifies whether it is pure or a stocked fish. [Facebook]

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Need to assist or be taught why 10,000 Rainbow trout could have their adipose fin clipped March 20 on the Port Elgin Hatchery by Lake Huron Fishing Membership members and volunteers?

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When a marked trout returns to this space to spawn in three or 4 years, anglers and provincial displays will be capable of determine it as a stocked fish and that info will assist hatcheries monitor their success charge – the numbers of returning hatchery versus wild fish in native waters.

Roughly 50,000 Rainbow trout had their fin clipped on the Kincardine Hatchery Feb. 26 once more March 5 by Lake Huron Fishing Membership members and volunteers who used manicure scissors to rigorously take away the fins, a fleshy nub positioned between the tail and the dorsal fin, widespread to all salmon and trout.

The fin clipping occurs yearly and is a Ministry of Pure Sources and Fisheries (MFNR) requirement in keeping with Dave Myette, president of the Lake Huron Fishing Membership.
Myette, additionally a City of Saugeen Shores councillor, made a pitch for volunteers to assist clip the remaining 10,000 trout at latest City council assembly.

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“If anybody wants to learn more about it or any young people – I had two Grade 9 students with me on Saturday and they are coming back – it’s a great opportunity for high school kids to learn a little about fish and get some community hours in at the same time,” Myette stated, including it’s a great way to be taught and provides again to the fishery.

In a March 9 phone interview Myette stated info gathered about clipped Rainbow trout that come again to spawn within the Saugeen River is collected by Ministry biologists and wildlife technicians who conducting a 10-year research to find out the ratio between pure and stocked fish.

“Based on that information they can determine the health of the biosystem to be able to able to naturally produce fish, and based on that information they may adjust the number of eggs that they allow us to take,” Myette stated, including in an excellent scenario, a hatchery wouldn’t be required to make sure sufficient fish acquired to prime spawning grounds to put their eggs.

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Whereas solely hatch Chinook salmon are hatched in Port Elgin Hatchery – the Brown and Rainbow trout are hatched in Kincardine – the Rainbow trout grew too large for the Kincardine tanks within the two years that they’d been stored, so 10,000 of them had been transferred to accessible tanks in Port Elgin final fall and shall be held till a spring launch, Myette stated.

He stated the clipping is a labour intensive operation and the fish “don’t seem to enjoy it very much but they get along without (the fin),” he stated, including consultants conclude the adipose fin shouldn’t be vital for the fish to outlive.
He added most of the Membership members and volunteers would “rather be fishing” than clipping, however they know it is crucial work.

On the Feb. 28 fin clipping in Kincardine, the Ontario Steelheaders Affiliation offered a $5,000 cheque to the Lake Huron Fishing Membership to assist run the ability. Volunteers function each Port Elgin and Kincardine hatcheries with restricted funding from the MNRF.

WITH FILES FROM HANNAH MACLEOD/POSTMEDIA NEWS

To assist cowl working prices, Karl Reddin (proper), president of the Ontario Steelheaders Affiliation offered a $5,000 cheque to Dave Myette, president of the Lake Huron Fishing Membership, on the Kincardine Fish Hatchery Feb. 26. [Hannah MacLeod/Kincardine News]

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