Making Sense of Fishing Seasons

One week into New York State trout season and I still haven’t managed to get out on the water to do some fishing. The rivers are raging like a chocolate milk torrent and many of the best ponds have an icy covering after the long hard winter. Trying to keep myself from going crazy I turned to the regulation book the Department of Environmental Conservation releases each year to figure out exactly where to go when the stars finally line up. I have a little experience with New York fishing regulations but much of what I found was considerably different from back home in Ontario. This got me thinking, why are fishing seasons the way they are and do we even need them to maintain a sustainable fishery?

Photo: Evan Buitenhuis

Between Ontario and New York regulations the largest difference is the length of the bass season. In Ontario regulations the province is split up into twenty regions which each have their own special regulations. The one common feature between the regions is that bass season begins no earlier than the 4^th Saturday of June and ends no later than November 30^th (Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources). In New York bass are open all year, with the only rule that they can’t be kept between December 1^st and the Friday preceding the 3^rd Saturday in June (Department of Environmental Conservation).  These differences are most confusing when you realize they apply to the same water bodies in some cases (Lake Erie and Lake Ontario).

My understanding of the Ontario fishing season is that it is designed to protect the fish during their vulnerable times, ie during spawning and when they inhabit very deep, cold water during the winter. The New York fishing season allows anglers to catch bass at any time during the year, and a particularly popular time is during the spawn in spring time. Fish at this time of the year are easy targets as they defend their nests and newly hatched fry. In the Great Lakes bass face the added problem of the invasive Round Goby which eats both the eggs and newly hatched bass.

This information would lead almost anyone to the conclusion that fishing should be limited to the times the fish aren’t preoccupied with spawning; however, the bass has successfully adapted to the new pressure it faces from anglers and invasive species. Numerous studies have been done in the Great Lakes to address this issue, and they have all come to the same conclusion. Fishing during the spawn does not impact the year’s reproduction (In-Fisherman). While the numbers of eggs which successfully hatch has dropped, the number of fish which reach maturity has skyrocketed. The ecology of the Great Lakes lends itself to being a bass factory, with round gobies the preferred food on the menu. Public perception will take a long time to come around on this issue, but in this case it’s hard to argue that having seasons actually benefits the fish. One day if I’m lucky I won’t be waiting for chocolate milk rivers to return to normal to go fishing, I’ll just take a trip to my favourite bass lake.

Sources:

"Disclaimer." Statewide Angling Regulations, Department of Environmental Conservation. Accessed April 7, 2015.

"2015 Ontario Fishing Regulations Summary." Ontario.ca. Accessed April 7, 2015.

"Smallmouth Bass Outlook 2012 - In-Fisherman." InFisherman Smallmouth Bass Outlook 2012 Comments. Accessed April 7, 2015.