Lake Wolsey perch live a relative cormorant-free life

by Expositor Staff

LAKE WOLSEY-People in the know from all over Manitoulin - and beyond - go to Lake Wolsey, 15 miles west of Gore Bay, to fish perch. That's summer and winter, and that's because, if one is in a mood for a feed of perch, Lake Wolsey is the only place where there is a fair certainty that a fisherman will be successful.

That's not to say there aren't perch in other Island lakes and in the North Channel. There are. But these tend to be caught by talented anglers who know exactly where and when to fish.

Lake Wolsey is much more forgiving to ordinary anglers and regularly gives up the limit of this tasty species to patient people who are prepared to move around the lake and bait their hooks with standard perch fare.

Like the perch who school there, Mike Meeker, proprietor of Meeker's Aquaculture, is a denizen of Lake Wolsey where he moved 25 years ago to establish Manitoulin's first aquaculture operation.

Mr. Meeker says that because of this willingness and encouragement to have Meeker Aquaculture included in a variety of scientific studies, "Lake Wolsey is one of the most studied lakes in Northern Ontario."

He knows his lake is a productive habitat for perch, and for other species too. And he knows why: it's a symbiotic relationship between his fish cages (where he rears rainbow trout for the commercial market) and the wild fish species, like the yellow perch native to virtually all of the lakes on Manitoulin but now found in abundance only in Lake Wolsey.

This information about Meeker Aquaculture's relationship with a particular wild species of fish is imparted to the newspaper last Sunday afternoon at the fish farm.

The hour-long conversation is punctuated with the regular sound of shotgun blasts coming from near Meeker Aquaculture's cages on the lake below Mr. Meeker's storage buildings and home.

Mr. Meeker, a man of calm demeanor who has about him the same air of any farmer who knows his territory and livestock intimately, says with authority that: "Lake Wolsey has the only sustainable levels of yellow perch on Manitoulin in all year classes."

"And that," he continues, "is because our cages are there (the perch have lately come to take refuge from the predator cormorants in the 50-60 foot depths of water beneath the Meeker Aquaculture fish cages) and because those guys (he gestures in the direction where the shotgun blasts are coming from) are here protecting them."

The perch population is viable in Lake Wolsey, Mr. Meeker knows, simply because as a licensed aquaculture operator, Meeker Aquaculture has been issued a permit that allows him (or his designates) to shoot the nuisance cormorants that would otherwise attack the rainbow trout being reared in the large net cages that comprise Mr. Meeker's "farm" in Lake Wolsey.

This shooting of nuisance cormorants became a necessity for Meeker Aquaculture about five years ago when the fish farm suffered a significant financial loss of about 6,000 rainbow trout... to cormorants.

"What they (cormorants) do - and I've watched them doing it when I've been on an underwater dive, the cormorants strike through the cages' webbing, striking the fish inside the cages just behind their gills (at their heart and liver, where the fish is most vulnerable) and then slash the fish downwards to finish the kill. Then they try to pull the fish through the netting to eat it."

Shooting the birds isn't usually an issue until after ice break-up, when the open tops of the giant cages give easy access to cormorant predation.

"But this year, when our cages were still submerged (during ice movement) I had double top nets on the cages. And we had to repair a lot of large holes in these top nets that definitely weren't there when the nets went on."

And, because the fish cages and Mr. Meeker's crop of rainbow trout are being protected by the shotgun blasts that keep the birds away from the area (and kill some of them as well) that provides a place of refuge for the perch, under the cages.

"The huge number of perch around our cages are there because of our protection of the cages," Mr. Meeker stated with authority, "but also because there's food at the cages: bugs and algae the perch pick off the side of the rainbow trout cages...and there's not much food left (for the perch to feed on) elsewhere in Lake Wolsey. It's a kind of 'artificial reef' situation that's been created here that the perch are taking advantage of."

Mr. Meeker has lived and worked on Lake Wolsey for a quarter century and, like any farmer, he's watchful of the natural elements like weather and pests that may come to plague his crop.

And for half of the that time that he's had an aquaculture business on the lake, he's observed that the cormorants have become a risk to the fish he harvests and, by extension, to virtually all other species in Lake Wolsey.

By necessity of protecting his own fish farm, Mr. Meeker believes he's inadvertently given refuge (and food) to enough perch to maintain a stable population of that once-popular game species, across all year classes, in Lake Wolsey.

But in the course of seeking shelter in the deep water beneath the Meeker Aquaculture cages, Lake Wolsey's yellow perch population is also radically altering hard-wired patterns in an effort to survive the onslaught of the cormorants, Mr. Meeker has observed.

Perch habitually spawn in shallow, near-shore environments, Mr. Meeker says. The spawn clings to shallow water plants. That's what has worked for the species for, probably, thousands of years.

But not now.

The fish are spawning in 50 or 60 foot depths of water (beneath the fish cages which are legally protected from cormorants by those shotgun blasts), "and the ministry (MNR) people agree that the perch are drastically changing their spawning behaviour throughout the Great Lakes in recent years in response to cormorant pressure," Mr. Meeker says.

But in spite of all the efforts by Meeker Aquaculture to protect their crop of rainbow trout (and coincidentally keeping the perch population at sustainable numbers) the cormorants keep coming.

"The numbers of cormorants I've seen this year are the most I've seen in four years," the veteran fish farmer says. "The cormorants are back... in big numbers."

This observation appears to be supported by a recent devastating onslaught of cormorants directed precisely at the perch population swimming and getting ready to spawn beneath the Meeker Aquaculture fish cages.

That was early last week. Monday, April 28 to be precise.

Cormorant communities organize to find food and that afternoon, Stuart Burns of Gordon, a volunteer helper at Meeker Aquaculture, said a flight of birds he estimates numbered 2,000, "came on to the cage area in a big V formation," striking at the perch beneath the rainbow trout cages. "The ones in the front ate first, then moved to the back and the others moved up."

Mr. Meeker says the cormorants formed what he terms a "skirmish line," spreading out and driving the perch out from beneath the cages by frightening them into moving out to where other members of the flock are waiting to eat them.

Cormorants are versatile divers and swimmers in their hunting mode. "I've watched these  birds, in their skirmish line formation, lunge at our cages from one side and the fish move to the other side of the enclosure. Then other birds do the same thing from the other side and the fish quickly move back across the cage."

"That's the same process these birds use with fish like the perch, that are unprotected by cages. They simply push them towards the shore," Mr. Meeker says.

Last week's attack by the birds on the perch stock ended with many dead fish floating on the surface of Lake Wolsey.

"When the fish go deeper to spawn and they're herded by the cormorants (who are deep divers by nature) the water literally looks like it's boiling as the fish swim upwards to try to escape the birds. The smaller ones (usually smaller males) get caught up and are pushed quickly to the surface so fast that their swim bladders don't have time to adjust to the changing pressure and they burst, killing the fish and providing an impromptu meal for the seagull population," Mr. Meeker observes.

Mr. Meeker feels that the yellow perch population in Lake Wolsey, that has only hung on there in spite of the best efforts of the cormorants to devastate it (as he, Mr. Burns and others observed last week) and only because he feeds and protects his own farmed fish from the birds and so has created this serendipitous perch sanctuary, that the perch population in this lake can be the basis for rehabilitating the perch fishery in the North Channel and other Manitoulin lakes.

But he also feels strongly that all of this will only be possible if the cormorant population is brought under control by political will and with the force and support of the government of Ontario.

And this is where Mr. Meeker, a law abiding pioneer in the Manitoulin aquaculture industry and the charter president of the Northern Ontario Aquaculture Association, becomes critical of what he feels are ineffective and inefficient government policies on the cormorant issue.

He is also critical of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) for ignoring its own mandate. "They're supposed to protect species for future generations," he says flatly. "The cormorants are an issue that should be taken care of now because the species they're decimating (like the yellow perch) just won't be there for future generations."

His real criticism is with the political nature of the MNR. "They have good people in the districts and regions, like this one, who know what the problem is and what should be done about it. The problem is that the bureaucrats in Toronto and Peterborough (where the MNR's ministry office is located) don't listen to them."

"If the ministry listened to their own local people, the (cormorant) problem would be solved quickly," he continues.

"I'm afraid it's mismanagement of talent," he says flatly. "The district biologist in a given area should be able to act according to the needs in their own zones." He referred to his own case where Meeker Acquaculture, working with the MNR, has been able to be legally empowered to shoot cormorants to protect the fish farm's rainbow trout, and the wild perch thrive as a consquence.

"The MNR always says it wants community input. What generally happens is that you go to a meeting and the outcomes are often preset so you leave the meeting with a strong feeling that what you've suggested won't be acted on," Mr. Meeker says.

"But this is a perfect example of what is needed all over the province where local expertise and willingness to do what is required to help solve a problem is available and just needs to be tapped into. That's the model we're using at our farm successfully and the MNR is an important partner in that, and so are the volunteers from the Gore Bay and District Fish and Game Club, and other people too, who come to our cages and shoot the cormorants. These guys have the expertise and incentive and realize the scope of the problem. If these people were legally allowed to expand their efforts beyond our cage area, they'd get on with it and the problem would be quickly solved," Mr. Meeker stresses.

"I think the model would be several small projects, like this one, that would be easily managed in their own areas and designed to meet a stated objective in a stated time frame," he adds.

"If you have a successful little project like the one here, it should be easier to do the next one and the next one and the one after that too, in terms of funding and volunteers" Mr. Meeker says.

"I think a few successful micro projects, again like this one, would make it easier for a district manager or a district biologist to stickhandle through the internal bureaucracy they  have to manage," he adds. "Success will breed success and the mistrust and cynicism that many people have right now for the MNR in terms of responding to local needs will begin to change. And I believe that it will change quite quickly."

Meanwhile, the shotguns protecting both Mr. Meeker's livelihood and the residual yellow perch population in lake Wolsey continue to legally blast away. Over 70 of the birds were shot Sunday morning, their carcasses plucked out of the water by Mr. Meeker in accordance with one of the conditions that allows him to protect his investment.

Point Pelee cormorant cull survives federal court challenge

by Jim Moodie

LEAMINGTON-Shooting of cormorants at an isolated Lake Erie island commenced last week after a bid by animal rights groups to derail the action was denied by a federal judge.

Middle Island, the southernmost point of Canada and a relatively recent addition to Point Pelee National Park, has become overrun by cormorants in recent years, to the point that park staff have deemed a cull to be the only recourse to spare the island's unique ecosystem.

Uninhabited except by wildlife, the island was acquired from a US owner in 1999 by the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which turned it over to Parks Canada. While human traffic at the site is discouraged, thousands of birds and butterflies stop by every year as the island is part of an archipelago that functions as a key migratory corridor.

The problem, say park representatives, is that cormorants have become resident in ever swelling numbers over the past decade, much to the detriment of other species and the island's vulnerable flora.

"Middle Island is dying because of the high density of cormorants," said Dr. Stephen Woodley, chief ecosystem scientist with Parks Canada, in a conversation with the Expositor last month. "It's a wonderfully unique place containing many species at risk, and one of the last remnants of a Carolinian ecosystem, but when you go on the island it's an absolute rain of guano."

Dr. Woodley estimates that "40 to 50 percent of the canopy has been lost" due to the toxic droppings of cormorants, and if such pressure is allowed to continue, defoliation of the remaining vegetation will be quick to follow. "Eventually all of the forest cover will go and they'll move to ground nesting, and the island will become a completely denuded guano mound."

To head off that dire scenario, park personnel are now carrying out a cull of adult birds, similar to the control measures undertaken at Presqu'ile Park on Lake Ontario and in various parts of the US, although it didn't come about quite as quickly or smoothly as originally envisioned.

Early last month, Parks Canada made its management plan available for public scrutiny through an environmental assessment process, with the goal of initiating the cull in late April, but an injunction filed the same week in federal court by the Animal Alliance of Canada and Cormorant Defenders International forestalled the action.

Bird defenders argue that the cormorant presence was obvious when the island was acquired and made part of Point Pelee Park, and that there is a clear need to rewrite the park's management plan to reflect this addition before any cull can be legally be authorized.

Last Wednesday, however, the injunction was denied in federal court. And since the birds are presently nesting, Parks Canada wasted little time in launching its cull plan, with shooting beginning the next day, on April 30.

The goal is to not to eradicate the population of cormorants, stressed Dr. Woodley, but to bring it into check. At present there are over 4,000 nests on Middle Island, and Parks Canada plans to reduce that number over the space of five years to a more sustainable level of 500 to 900.

Dr. Woodley further emphasized that the cull has been carefully planned to minimize cormorant suffering. "We're trying to do this with the highest humane standard possible," he said, noting that only adult birds will be targeted and "we won't be shooting when the eggs hatch."

Parks Canada is engaging "highly trained people who must pass an accuracy standard" to act as snipers, said Dr. Woodley, and the birds will "die as a result of a single head shot."

That doesn't seem to have reassured the cormorant champions who have congregated near the cull site to protest and monitor the action. Julie Woodyer of Zoocheck Canada and Cormorant Defenders International told the Windsor Star last week that "the level of disturbance is absolutely shocking."

She described a scene of "mass chaos," with a variety of bird species, including egrets and herons, being scattered by the noise of gunshots. Apart from the potential that birds could be maimed by errant bullets, Ms. Woodyer worried that vacated nests might be raided by scavengers.

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) is applauding the cull, however, arguing in a press release that it is "part of a carefully developed and scientifically sound management plan by Parks Canada to address the overpopulation of cormorants on Middle Island."

Dr. Terry Quinney, provincial manager of fish and wildlife for the OFAH, contends in the release that "the ecosystems of the Great Lakes and inland lakes cannot continue to sustain the damage that has been created by a decade of cormorant population growth that has been allowed to go unchecked."

But while the OFAH welcomes the federally sanctioned cull at Middle Island, the organization would prefer to see a similar sense of urgency and commitment at the provincial level. "The OFAH is concerned over the lack of action in other areas of the province under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR)," the group states.

Pointing to the suspension of culling activity at Presqu'ile Provincial Park near Brighton, the OFAH complains that this decision "flies in the face of the MNR's responsibility and stated commitment to the conservation of biodiversity."

Joe Isley, a Leamington resident and Manitoulin property owner, has been following the Middle Island saga closely, having attended a public meeting earlier this year at which Pelee Park staff laid out the options for reducing the cormorant presence, and having tracked the ensuing debate in the pages of the Windsor Star.

He's relieved that the injunction sought by the pro-cormorant side has been rejected, and that the cull is finally under way. "We have to come up with a solution, because the balance of nature is out of whack and we have to get it back on track," he told the Expositor. "That's what Parks Canada is trying to do."

The cull could actually be over by the time this paper hits the stands, as the shooting was delayed slightly due to the legal wrinkle, and Parks Canada doesn't want to extend the killing beyond the time when eggs are ready to hatch.

Indeed, the plan is to conclude the cull before the eggs-which incubate over a 28-day period-reach the 14-day mark and the embryos develop nerves, according to Dr. Woodley.

EDITORIAL

Cormorant issue needs to be addressed immediately

Two weeks ago, an editorial in this space called on the government of Ontario to seriously address the cormorant issue that continues to plague Manitoulin as well as Killarney, Parry Sound, eastern Lake Ontario and areas of Lake Erie.

The editorial challenged the Ontario government, through its Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), to be less political in its approach to the management of predatory species like the cormorant and to be more proactive instead.

This week, in a front-page news feature, pioneer Manitoulin aquaculture operator and charter president of the Northern Ontario Aquaculture Association Mike Meeker further challenges the MNR head office to allow regional biologists to develop strategies that meet the needs of their immediate constituents.

On the cormorant file, it has become commonplace for MNR staff at a variety of levels to agree privately that the cormorant population is a menace to other species and is in need of urgent and sustained control measures.

But these are private, one-on-one conversations.

What is important is that these private observations are coming from individuals who work in the field, and also from those who work only a level or two away from the field...and it is an enormous political distance between these field and near-field workers and the policy people who labour in Toronto and at the MNR's Peterborough

headquarters.

And that's too bad because, while the field folks are not being needed, Rome is burning in regions of Ontario, with no particular political clout like Algoma-Manitoulin.

Following the last provincial election and when he was once again an ordinary member of the Ontario legislature, MPP Mike Brown had told this paper that he would work on the private member's bill introduced by a Tory member before the last election that would have given anyone permission to shoot these birds if they deemed them a nuisance.

The individual member campaigning this bill chose not to run again, so it's available for another member-or better still, for the government itself-to bring back for the MPPs' consideration.

It's a guarantee that diminished angling opportunities-brought on in large measure by the voracious appetites of the inordinately large numbers of cormorants nesting each summer on remote North Channel islands-have already had a negative impact on Manitoulin Island tourism.

The MNR's own research shows that the cormorants are a huge problem. The responses of tourist operators indicate that they are being negatively impacted as a consequence.

The time to address this issue, at all levels and with a view to sustaining a viable angling industry in this region, is right now.

Letters to the Editor

National Day of Mourning observed on April 28

Gagetown soldiers suffered from government's poisons

To the Expositor:

April 28, National Day of Mourning for employees killed, injured and those that suffer illnesses as a result of their work.

Today I mourn the thousands killed by Canada's spraying of toxic chemicals over the training grounds of Canadian Forces Base Gagetown, New Brunswick. Both soldiers and civilians were exposed to 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T and Tordon 101 with picloram. For the soldiers, they were just doing their jobs. Days and weeks where spent in those woods of Gagetown, they lived off that wasteland soaked in Dioxin and Hexachlorobenzene. Eating and drinking, they hunted, fished and bathed in it. And while they trained, the planes just keep dumping their poisons and the helicopters continued layering it on. Year after year after year. There were no precautions taken. As a matter of fact, these men were lied to.  They were told it would not harm them. Their illnesses and deaths are a result of the work exposure. They are denied by our government.

At Canada's invitation, the US military came here and experimented with their war chemicals, exposing many more to Agent Orange, Agent Purple and Agent White in 1966 and 1967. My father was one of them in 1966. Why would you do this to him? Everyday, his life is filled with choking and coughing and spitting up blood. He fights for every breath. This is a result of his exposure in the work place. This government denied his claim.

Today I mourn the family I have lost. They were exposed as children while their father did his job at CFB

Gagetown. All diagnosed with cancers, incurable. Our lives have become an emotional disaster. Full of disease, pain, suffering until we are finally ripped apart by death.

A day of mourning. April 28th.  All as a result of their work and an uncaring government.

Nancy Belfry

Thorold, Ontario

Solution for Gagetown victims an inept attempt at resolution

Settlement package unfair to those who gave their lives, health and youth for our country

To the Expositor:

You know, watching our Canadian politicians perform in the House of Commons is somewhat like watching Sesame Street when I was younger-but with neither the inelegance nor the ability to count. When people like Mrs. Betty Hinton (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Veterans Affairs, CPC) make statements such as: "We have also delivered on our promise to implement the new Veterans Charter, establish a Bill Of Rights for Veterans, appoint a Veterans Ombudsman, and resolve the long standing Agent Orange issue" Canadians really have to wonder if her water glass is filled with the same water that John A. MacDonald was well known for or maybe even what she has been smoking.

The Greg Thompson solution for Gagetown victims of Ottawa chemical poisoning, in my opinion, is nothing more then an inept attempt to distance the more then 3.3 million litres/pounds of Ottawa Canadian chemicals from the two and one half (2 and 1/2) US barrels of identical chemicals used in 1966 and 1967 by the USA. And, for nothing but financial reasons, try and claim that the chemical industry made separate and special batches of the chemicals which contained less toxic bi-products for Canadian use in Gagetown, when both the industry and Ottawa swear that they didn't even know that there was Dioxin or HCB in the sprays used.  Let's face it, the clause excluding anyone who died before Stephen Harper came to power was only enacted because the dead neither vote any longer nor are their complaints heard or published.

That Peter Stoffer or the NDP didn't vote for this so called Gagetown package is to their credit for, in my opinion, only a total fool or a liar could consider this a fair and equitable package for the veterans who have given their lives, health and youth in the service of their country.  Mind you, it is not hard to realize why both the Conservative and Liberal parties of Canada would want this to dry up and go away, as they were the only two parties in power and therefore, also the only two parties with their fingers on the triggers; at least when it came to the chemical spraying of the troops. If Mrs. Betty Hinton believes, or at least claims to believe, that the Stephen Harper gang has resolved the long-standing Agent Orange issue; she has another thing coming.

The Thompson compensation package is not the end.  It is not even the beginning of the end. In fact, it may not even be the end of the beginning.  But hey, don't worry.  They do find the time and the way to give themselves another pay hike just two years after voting themselves an estimated $5,000.00 per month expense account jump.

Boy, isn't democracy grand?

Cpl. Kenneth H. Young CD (Ret'd).

Nanaimo, BC

Easter lily poses danger in home

Be cautious for the safety of your pets

To the Expositor:

This Easter, an Easter lily plant was brought into our home.

I had knowledge that some plants are dangerous to pets. I did not realize the "lily" was deadly.

For precaution, we placed the plant so our cat could not get access to it. However, we unfortunately overlooked the possibility of a leaf or petal dropping.

Within hours of ingestion of any lily plant material, your pet will become ill and develop kidney failure within 36-72 hours. Death tends to occur within just days.

I ask all pet owners to please, before bringing any plant into your home, or planting one outdoors, do your research. Contact your veterinarian for information and guidance for the safety of your pet, and for your own peace of mind.

There are so many hidden dangers in our homes.

Bev Chatwell

Gore Bay

Sylvia Moggy

Muskie Widows Tavern

Manitowaning

I'm your neighbour

"I don't like it when it's quiet," says Sylvia Moggy, as she pulls a mop across the weathered floor of the Muskie Widows Tavern. "I get bored easily."

Indeed. On a lazy Sunday afternoon in the Manitowaning eatery, a small group of regulars occupies a table while enjoying an afternoon snack, but the restaurant is otherwise empty. It would be an ideal opportunity to take a break from her duties, but the energetic Ms. Moggy likes to keep busy.

So busy, that she disappears briefly into the kitchen to retrieve a freshly cooked basket of fries, which she delivers to an appreciative patron, all the while keeping up a friendly banter in her open and genial way.

"Let's see-I mop floors, cook and clean windows," she says, when asked about her duties.

"And she's the best waitress here," a patron chimes in.

Her current stint at the local watering hole has lasted two months, but she was previously employed at Muskie Widows for five years. In between, she took some time out to work at the Co-op, but has since returned to the job, which she enjoys for the interaction with customers.

She also enjoys the grub on offer, which leads to the best part: "It cuts down on my grocery bill," she jokes.

On a more serious note, "It's a great job," she says. "I get to meet a lot of people."

When she's not working, Ms. Moggy plays hockey in the winter, attends the Tehkummah Pentecostal Church and is a member of the Assiginack Horticultural Society. She may be a people person, but she's equally in tune with the animal world, and she spends a lot of time at home with furry friends of the equine, canine and apiarian varieties.

Despite widespread reports of hive collapse, her bees all did very well last year, and she attributes her hives' happiness to a nearby alfalfa field. "Last year we got 47 pounds of honey," she says. "And I gave it all away as Christmas presents."

With the floor mopped and customers satisfied, work awaits back in the kitchen. When asked to provide any final thoughts about her employment, Ms. Moggy says owner Norma Sprack is a "great boss," and she loves working with her coworkers.

She also loves Manitowaning, which she describes as "a great small town," but at the end of the day, it's all about helping patrons.

"It's really just about meeting a lot of people," she says. "Norma is a real estate agent, and people are always coming in here looking for property, so I kind of like it because it's being a little bit like a welcome wagon."

With her big grin and warm personality, you couldn't ask for a better welcome.

Supporting local businesses like Muskie Widows Tavern in Manitowaning provides lasting employment for Islanders like Sylvia Moggy.