Subject:
Dave and Gary will be discussing a cooperative steelhead assessment program that the UGLMU conducts in cooperation with the Nottawasaga Steelheaders. His presentation will detail how the program works and results collected to date since the start of the program in the fall of 2011.
Dave Gonder BIO:
Dave Gonder is a fisheries management biologist at the Upper Great Lakes Management Unit (UGLMU) of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and has been employed at the Unit since 1999.
He received an Honours B.Sc. at Laurentian University in 1998 and worked in MNR’s Aquatic Research Section prior to his current position.
Dave is involved in a number of management and assessment activities on Lake Huron including steelhead assessment and management. He is the MNR co-chair for the FMZ 13 Advisory Council and is also heavily involved in Chinook Salmon and Lake Trout management activities at the Upper Great Lakes Management Unit.
In addition to working on steelhead, Dave has fly fished for steelhead for 20 years. Dave considers himself a consummate fly fisher who ties his own flies and builds his own rods. He also fly-fishes for trout and bass and has also pushed the fly fishing envelope chasing Bluefin Tuna and Pacific Yellowtail on the fly.
Gary Christie BIO:
Gary is currently the president of the Nottawasaga Steelheaders, an active group of conservation minded anglers and individuals, since 2001 and a member of the NS since 1996. He has been actively involved in efforts to preserve the integrity of the NottawasagaRiver watershed with the support and partnerships of various communities, the Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority and various MNR departments in Ontario including Midhurst, Owen Sound and Thunder Bay.
Receiving a Bachelors of Biology from YorkUniversity in 1976, He has been employed in industry delivering instrumentation and reagents in clinical diagnostics, academic and DNA related research to hospital and university laboratories.
In 2011, The Nottawasaga Steelheaders undertook a 4 year study. This is “the first of its kind” in southern Ontario. The MNR angler approved steelhead assessment is similar in concept to the Superior Portage Creek and MacIntyreRiver studies. It will try to understand the status of wild steelhead in the NottawasagaRiver. Steelhead have not been planted in the Notty since the 1950’s and the river still maintains the largest run of wild steelhead in Ontario.
An accomplished angler Gary has been fishing the NottawasagaRiver since 1967. He has fished for steelhead, rainbow and salmon across Canada and the US and has always had a passion for the Notty and to do something positive for the watershed and to “.put a little back” as the Nottawasaga Steelheaders motto says.
Gary Christie with a Nottawasaga Steelhead.
