Rumours of coho salmon’s demise in the Canadian waters of Lake Ontario are greatly exaggerated.
Once a part of Lake Ontario’s salmon stocking program before it was shelved in 2005 due to provincial governmental monetary cutbacks, the coho salmon will be back in the swim.
For those who like to fish Lake Ontario and its various feeder streams, the coho return is encouraging news as they represent another species on the angling menu.
Jeremy Holden, an Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters fisheries biologist, noted some 80,000 cohos reared at the Ringwood Fish Culture Station in Stouffville will be seeded at various sites this fall along the Credit River.
By utilizing the Credit River, it would create a main run of returning coho salmon for future egg collections, Holden said.
Raised at the Ringwood hatchery for about a year, the cohos entering the Credit River will be at the fingerling stage and weigh approximately 0.25 grams.
“They will stocked in the stream where they will over reside over winter before smolting out to the lake in the spring of 2009,” he said of the fish, which have a three-year lifecycle and have a tendancy to return to their river where they were stocked during the fall months to fulfill their spawning ritual and then die.
Since there was no stocking of cohos in the Canadian waters of Lake Ontario since 2005, any collected eggs utilized for this year’s planting were based on any fish born from natural reproduction or runs of stray fish from New York State plantings that were found in Canadian waters, Holden said.
He was quick to note the revival of the coho program should be attributed to several concerned conservation organizations.
Those include the federation, Ontario’s largest conservation organization; Metro East Anglers, whose members volunteer their time to operate the Ringwood Fish Culture Station; Ministry of Natural Resources and funding from the Toronto Sportsman Show.
“We are pleased to be able to revive the coho stocking program through our involvement with Ringwood,” Mike Reader, federation executive director, said. “The partnership has been so successful that it has allowed us to over deliver on the expectations set out for us when we took on the hatchery.”
Glenn Anderson, Metro East Anglers president, is also enthusiastic about the renewal of the coho salmon program in Lake Ontario.
“Coho are great salmon to catch for the pier and stream fisherman,” he said. “They stay silver and active much longer in the stream than chinooks and they are more eager to take baits while in the river.”
As for the future of the coho salmon fishery in Ontario, Holden said the federation will work toward maintaining a stocking target of 50,000 fall fingerlings for the next several years.
In addition to rearing the entire provincial quota of coho in Lake Ontario, the Ringwood hatchery also serves the same purpose for the chinook salmon, rainbow trout, brown trout and Atlantic salmon.
For those who would like to lend a hand in assisting in the rearing of fish at Ringwood, volunteers are welcome, Holden said.
“No experience is required,” he said.
To learn more about the Lake Ontario salmonid stocking programs or to contact the federation, they can log on to: www.ringwoodhatchery.com or www.metroeastanglers.com
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