See here for Gary’s complete BIO.
The Nottawasaga River – “The Survival of a Great River”:
The Nottawasaga River is the largest provider of Wild Steelhead and established Salmon to Georgian Bay and Lake Huron. In addition, its waters are major contributors of other fish such as the Great Lakes Sturgeon, a species which is struggling to overcome its status as threatened.
All along the watershed and lake basin, pressures are creating strain on the supportive ecology that puts one of the greatest rivers in Canada and its world class fisheries at risk.
Gary Christie, President of the Nottawasaga Steelheaders will update you on the latest findings on the Notty. Gary has fished the Notty for over 45 years. Together with his angling experience, biology background and strong working associations with the MNR, NVCA and other academic and conservation institutions, his presentation will provide you with a greater appreciation and understanding of this wonderful watershed and it’s amazing fisheries!
“Exploring the Poor Great Lakes Fall Runs of 2014”:
Many of you have been hearing various discussions across blogs and websites about the poor returns of steelhead this year. Though the full extent and reasoning across the entire Great Lakes has not been fully explained numerous reports are pointing towards alewife as a possible culprit for many of these fisheries. Hatchery based systems like the Salmon River seem to be very hard hit where mortality has been high and quite evident by anglers and guides reports. In other systems of Lake Huron, Georgian Bay and Lake Superior, mortality has not been quite as evident though returns have been similarly very poor. The differences between how wild and hatchery based populations have been impacted have yet to be determined. One thing which is shared by all the Great Lakes, has been the extreme cold of 2014 which may have impacted forage bases (aquatic and terrestrial based insects or benthics) for steelhead and may have actually impacted other species including alewife. A 2014 report provided by the Bluewater a Anglers showed a bump of alewife in 2013 in Lake Huron. Alewife have been almost absent from this lake system since their demise years ago. The steelhead may have had to revert to higher proportions of alewife to survive beyond meagre insect forage.
Visit the Nottawasaga Steelheaders website here.
The Nottawasaga Steelheaders:
Our Accomplishments and Milestones in 2014
This year has been a year of major accomplishments and milestones by our organization. It gives me a great deal of pleasure to express my sincerest appreciation for the commitment and participation you have provided in our conservation efforts in 2014. The Nottawasaga Steelheaders are admired by other groups because of that degree of commitment. Our ambitious goals and achievement of natural restoration and the preservation of the Nottawasaga River watershed are the gold standard by which other like-organizations strive.
This year’s accomplishments, indeed once again, are a mark of that commitment and provide us all with a great deal of pride and satisfaction.
What did we do and accomplish?
1.Steelhead Assessment – We completed year 3 of our study to determine the health of the Notty Steelhead population. The number of steelhead caught were 385 samples. Samples were sent for aging. September began the final year Year 4 of the study. It concludes on May 31, 2015. A fish lift at Earl Rowe is proposed for the spring to complement the study.
Funds for the study have been provided by the Township of Essa and through fund raising events such as the Essa Salmon Derby Rubber Fish Race.
2.Fighting the Midhurst Secondary Plan – Gary Christie and the NS have been working diligently with groups such as AWARE Simcoe, The Midhurst Ratepayers Association (MRA) and others to stop the development which will bring a massive development of 30,000 people to Midhurst on the edge of the critical Minesing Wetlands and the Nottawasaga River. These included a number of presentations and projects by our group. The battle continues with the Phase 3 & 4 portions of the EA occurring through to 2016.
· Simcoe Federation of Agriculture
· Booth at “Save Midhurst Village“ Gathering to Fight the MSP
· Rogers TV, Barrie
· Hook Line and Sinker, Guelph
· Wasaga Beach Community Center (Article of Talk in Barrie Examiner and Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin)
· Woodlands Beach Property Owners Association
· Barrie Rotary Club
· Meeting with Kathleen Wynne’s Senior Advisors along with the Midhurst Rate Payers Association
· Midhurst Minesing Wetlands/ Willow Creek Community Walk and Talk
· Election Support Letters of Endorsement for anti-development Municipal Candidates- (We were successful in removing 5 of the 6 incumbents including Mayor and Deputy Mayor!!)
· Educational Program on Preparing for Environmental Assessments by EcoJustice
· Meetings with Eco Justice and Midhurst Ratepayers to prepare for MSP EA Bump-Up Phase 3 & 4
3. Helping to Preserve The Nottawasaga Valley Conservation Authority – The NVCA has been a major partner of the Nottawasaga Steelheader Organization since our inception 19 years ago. The NVCA Board is made up of 28 members from municipalities in the watershed. This board, over the years, has felt the pressure of provincial funding cutbacks and increasing municipal costs. Pressures from developers have weighed in heavily against sustainable development in the watershed. Over the past year the NS has attended numerous board meetings to show solidarity for the NVCA and against those municipalities which favor the NVCA being more amenable to development along with groups such as AWARE Simcoe and the Midhurst Ratepayers Association.
· Gary Christie and other supporting members interviewed on Barrie`s CTV 2 News Channel
4.Workdays – Pine River Stream Rehab – The NS, the NVCA and many community participants worked on the Pine River rehabilitation over two weekends in July and August. This included stream bank stabilization. The Pine River is a major salmonid tributary of the Nottawasaga River.
5.Fighting the Everett Development – The town of Everett in Adjala Tosorontio Township is undergoing a large growth with a 6,000 person development going in along the Pine River.
Gary Christie and the NS provided a series of concerns in a Class C EA response to The township and the consultant Greenland on the Waste Water Treatment Plant and its limitations in protecting the Pine River and critical salmonid spawning grounds. The battle continues
6.Fish Management Zone (13&14) Meeting Participation with MNR UGLMU – Gary Christie attended two FMZ meetings in 2014. The first was to finalize the Lake Trout Rehabilitation Program for Lake Huron and Georgian Bay. The second portion of that meeting and the second meeting investigate The Walleye Recovery Program for Lake Huron and Georgian Bay and its tributaries.
7.Essa Salmon Derby – NS’s continued partnership with Essa for 11th Annual Salmon Derby in September. NS raised $1000.00 in Rubber Salmon Race. Essa and the EDC have provided $5,000.00 to date with for the 4 year Steelhead Assessment Study. We have raised an additional $4,000.00 through the NS Rubber Salmon Races.
8.NS Catch and Release Club Derby & BBQ – Twenty members attended the event with the biggest fish being caught by Boyd Mayo at 28 inches! Sausages, Parmesan Cheese (Thanks to Joe!) and Refreshments were great with Joe Lupiani and Marc Potvin catching their first Notty fish. Marc a nice little brown and Joe a 22 inch steelie! Congratulations!
9.University of Western Ontario Chinook Salmon Update Presentation – Michael Thorn and Steve Sharon, University of Western Ontario presents to NS on Chinook salmon research on the Notty and Georgian Bay. 40% of Chinook in Lake Huron come from the Notty!! New techniques of examining Chinook Salmon in the Pine River. Chinook Salmon population is established and strong in the Pine River.
10. Passing of John Dunn – It was with regret and deepest sympathy that we saw the passing this year of long time member (15 years) of John Dunn. John was a strong supporter of the NS and was instrumental in assisting with important election processes.
Thank you again for your participation, support and commitment this year. As you can agree, the past year was a very challenging one. With your support, we look forward to the new and increasing challenges ahead of us in 2015 and helping us…”put a little back”. Our watershed depends on us!
