Quinte Fishing

I was disturbed to watch a video clip from BOQ that showed individuals culling fish out of their livewell, replacing them with larger fish. Is it legal to cull fish in BOQ? The video clips were from YouTube.com. The name of the boat was displayed in the video.

You can cull fish but the ones you let go count towards your daily limit.

Regarding culling, here's the scenario I put forward to the Ontario MNR enforcement folks in 2004:

I interpret the regulations to mean that when I catch a fish, I must immediately decide whether I'm keeping the fish or releasing the fish. Once I opt to keep the fish (e.g. in a live well), I can not later decide to release it if I catch a bigger fish. In other words, culling is illegal. Am I correct?

Ontario MNR response:

We have received communication back from our Enforcement Branch and the Fish and Wildlife Branch. Culling is illegal in Ontario; catch and retain is when you do not immediately or forthwith release the fish. If you catch a fish and put it in a live well, it has been retained and must be counted towards your daily limit no matter when you decide to kill it. This is outlined on pages 5 (under catch and possession limits) and 9 (last paragraph under "Handling") of the 2004 Summary of the Fishing egulations. Culling is also illegal in tournament situations. The Enforcement Branch has advised the industry that this is an issue, and they are working with them to try and find a resolution to this concern.

I have not reviewed 2008 regulations to ascertain whether the same interpretation applies.

The is the website for the video clip for culling Huge Walleyes on the Bay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiosRmDuYcw
(If this does not work go to - YouTube.com search "Quinte Fishing" and view the clip "Culling Quinte Walleyes")

This is a charter fishing operation - in my opinion once the fish is in the live well it should be considered part of your daily limit. Are those those fish being released going to live? Very unethical!
If it is illegal - then this operation should be reported to the Ontario MNR.

Whats everyones opinion?

Jeff Martinson

According to the MNR website:

Culling: When you catch a fish that you are permitted to keep, you must immediately decide whether you wish to retain that fish or release it back to the water immediately. If your decision is to keep the fish, it becomes a part of your catch and retain limit for that day – whether or not the fish is later released. Often many of these “culled” fish will later die because of the stresses they have endured on stringers, in cages, or live wells.

"becomes a part of your catch and retain limit for that day – whether or not the fish is later released"!?!
How is this supposed to be enforced???

If it IS illegal then the videos on youtube are pretty much solid evidence of a crime. They show the people doing it, their contact info and boat registration numbers (other video). WOW

So if I understand this correctly then a team of bass anglers can only cull their bass during a tourney until they reach there catch and retain limit of 12 bass. If the released fish count towards this limit the a team that claims to catch 20 fish in a day is subject to a fine. Am I wrong at thinking this way.

If the fish is put in the livewell, it counts toward their daily limit. If it is immediately released, then it does not apply.

To get the correct information on this topic go to page 9 of the 2008-2009 Regulation Summary under the title "A Change to Ontario's Catch and Release Rules"
You are allowed to cull all day provided you have a livewell that holds at least 10 gallons in your boat and has an operating aerator, and provided you do not hold more than your license allows and the fish you release are in such a condition that they will survive if released.
Any fish not live-released are part of your daily catch and retain limit.

Shepherd. Thanks for checking that out. I'll take a look at that... Good info!

Good info for sure.........

But no one has brought up the fact of why this guy has all these pigs in his livewell anyway......

For running a website on "how2fish", the guy certainly isn't setting a good example.

Hi all.
I do believe in culling. I also believe in education. It can be done. This video shows an abomination. I don't believe it happens that often but we will now have to live with PETA getting hold of it and exploiting it to the end. The person video taping obviously didn't make a point of asking what this guy was doing and probably thought he/she was bragging without realising the ramnifications. The release was more of a clean the livewell out than a real live release. There is no way this guy was thinking he was actually releasing these fish to live another day. I have just as much disgust for the video tape person as the operator as he/she was a part of it.
I just reread my paragraph and realised that I, like most, believe this to be a real deal. Please read on.
Just for thought. Let's say an animal rights group went out, caught these fish and then staged the whole thing to prove their point. They would go to sleep knowing they killed a few fish in order to save the World from us evil doers. Our initial reation is the same as the average viewer, disgust.
I used to belong to OFAH but gave it up because it was in my opinion an elitest club. I still do. That being said, some group or association should be spending a pile of money to investigate this to the end.
I am going to look at this video over and over again to see if I can find something significant, and ask all of you to do the same. We as a group, even if unorganised should do that an report back here with any findings.
Clark

Thanks for an update on the new rules and regulations for 2008. However, IMHO, the new catch and release rules are

1. designed to appease the tournament fishing fraternity and
2. an admission that MNR have no resources to enforce any rules and regulations anyway.

I cannot believe there has not been a landslide of posts objecting to how this "guide business" treats this fishery. Their website called "How2fish" is anything other than a good example of proper resource management. Once a fish has been put in a livewell and bounced around for any length of time, it greatly reduces the chance of survival of that fish. In that video they act like it is a big joke dumping those "rejects" back in the water. This behavior is an insult to all fishermen who try their best to handle this valuable resource with great care. This outfit would lose their license to guide if caught doing that type of thing here in the Midwest.

Agree........

There is a law being broken here. I don't have the regs in front but there is a law that says you can't mistreat your fish. The wording is much more clear in the regs.
Clark