Ontario's Sustainable Bait Management Strategy

Crestliner16

Well-Known Member
Decision made, new rules coming:
https://ero.ontario.ca/notice/019-0518

Takeaway for me: no more trapping/netting your own minnows at the cottage, if you're outside your home "BMZ." Doesn't matter if you'd be using them in the same river/lake system you caught them in and posing no risk whatsoever, you'll need to purchase them from a local dealer and carry a fresh receipt. A shame IMO, harmless part of the fishing experience made illegal.
 
Hmm funny. I'll often see 2 different bait companies dragging the same creek on different days. Not saying any bad about them but. Those guys are a good source for whitch creeks have what. Way more browns around than you'd think.
 
I called the ministry about this last year when everyone was getting all upset about it. What I was told was you CAN catch your own bait still, but you cannot move it inland from where you caught it to use it inland outside of the proposed BMZ that you live in ie if you catch minnows in Lake Erie (Zone 19), (or buy them from a local bait supplier ie NEM, Rush Creek, or Big Otter Marina as examples) within what is technically, zone 16, you CAN use them at Fanshawe Conservation Area for example without requiring a receipt if you bought them, (although if you can get a receipt where you bought them it's always a good thing just to CYA) and the reason for this is because the rivers and streams of zone 16 empty into several of the great lakes, and you CAN use minnows you caught in Lake Erie, (or bought from a local bait supplier) move them over land to use them in Lake Huron, Detroit, Upper Niagara and St Clair rivers, Lake St. Clair, and Georgian Bay and you CAN use minnows you caught or bought in zone 16 for example in any of the great lakes that zone 16 borders again because they are immediately adjacent to zone 16.

But if you're planning to go outside the primary BMZ that you live in, ie you're planning a trip to Northern Ontario including "cottage country north of Barrie, from anywhere in what they're calling the proposed southern BMZ, which is a very large area, stretching from Cornwalll to Windsor, Tobermory to Pelee Island, Zones, 13,14,16,17,18,19 and 20, you cannot catch or purchase your bait and take it with you to your northern destinations outside of those FMZ's, and vice versa, because those northern areas you are heading too, are outside the proposed new southern BMZ that most if not all of us live in. You'd have to buy it or catch it locally where you're going or within that BMZ and you cannot transport it out of that BMZ when your trip is over, dead or alive.

Now that this apparently is going to happen, I've called the ministry again to get clarification on that, but after listening to the pretty music for almost an hour and being told by the robot they'd be with me shortly, when someone finally did pick up, they didn't know, and transferred me to someone who would know and I had to leave a message. I'm just waiting for them to call me back and once they do, I'll let you know who I spoke with and what they tell me.

But unless it's changed, based on what I was told last year when this was brought up, (again) and as I understand what they released within the link @Crestliner16 posted, (the document titled "Ontario's Sustainable Bait Management Strategy 2020") ALL of that is covered in section 3. subsections, 3.1 through 3.5. But as I said, I'll get the clarification that what I was told about it last year, and confirm that how I've interpreted what I read is still true. As soon as I know, you will.
 
Hey @Trevor M I appreciate the legwork. I don't mean to be pessimistic but it's clear to me from Section 3.4 that if I'm outside my home BMZ then I can't harvest my own bait, period (unless the creek gives me a receipt :)). Enforceability is the reason; closing the loophole where someone could bring bait from down south and if inspected, just claim they caught it locally. Hence, all out-of-towners need to have a receipt. I'd be pleased to hear otherwise but not holding my breath.

Disappointing for me because there's something primal and satisfying about catching bait, then using it to catch dinner. Part of the northern fishing trip outdoor experience to me (and it's not in any way ecologically risky to catch bait and use it in the same water system, regardless of where my "home" is).

Some of the basis for these changes is given in Section 3.0 "Movement of Bait." Three of the crux sentences are:

An estimated 4.2 million angling trips involving live bait take place each year in Ontario, where approximately 25% of these trips occur over distances greater than 400km. A large portion of Ontario anglers live and purchase bait in the southern part of the province, where invasive species and diseases are most prevalent. This large-scale movement of bait increases the risk of spreading species and diseases to new parts of the province.

IMO this is misleading. Sentence 1 on it's own makes sense. Sentence 2 on its own makes sense. Sentence 3 implies that whenever anglers are making these long journeys, they purchase or harvest their bait at home and bring it with them ("this large-scale movement of bait...")? How often is that actually the case? Risks aside, it would be a huge hassle to try to keep a bucket of shiners alive on a 10 hr drive up north, no?
 
Hey @Trevor M I appreciate the legwork. I don't mean to be pessimistic but it's clear to me from Section 3.4 that if I'm outside my home BMZ then I can't harvest my own bait, period (unless the creek gives me a receipt :)). Enforceability is the reason; closing the loophole where someone could bring bait from down south and if inspected, just claim they caught it locally. Hence, all out-of-towners need to have a receipt. I'd be pleased to hear otherwise but not holding my breath.

I'm still waiting to hear back from them. No surprise there, not with hunting season just around the corner. It's a bit confusing, and it's probably a safe bet that what I was told last year when this wasn't yet decided, is going to be a little bit different now that a decision has been made, which is why I called again and waited, and waited, and waited, and then waited a little bit more, nice elevator music to listen too, and a nice robot voice interrupting that music every 25-30 seconds telling me they'd be with me shortly, only to be told by the person who eventually picked up that they didn't know, but at least they put me through to someone who is supposed to know. Just a matter of waiting for that return call (which if it doesn't come, I'll call back and play the waiting game again.)

Once I get an answer from them, I'll post it and tell everyone what they tell me along with the name of the person who gave me the information so we all can share in what they tell me, and that way we can all be armed with a name if someone runs into an issue about it with a CO. Me personally, I'll never have that problem. I don't go outside zones 16 or 19 (at least I haven't yet) so that means I wouldn't be going out of my "home" BMZ, but it's still nice to have that information just in case I decide I want to in the future.
 
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