Quinte Fishing

Just noticed on the weekend that the boat launch at the Black River cheese factory seems to be closed permanently.
It has been filled in with a retaining wall and the sign says closed as of aug. 1. The dock is still there.
Don't know any further details.

And the barbed wire fences are still up blocking at least two of the dams along the Trent River. I'm not sure if they added more this year or not.

I guess it is time to start closing the launches as well one by one. Except of course the ones where we have to pay. Hmmm, anyone else see a price increase coming up...

I know I've sent a bunch of letters to our MP's. I think it is time for another letter to the OFAH as well. Sooner or later we will all get together and say enough is enough before it is too late. I hope.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

When was the last time the OFAH did anything meaningful. They'll gladly take your money though.

Looks like good old County Politics are at it again. Some Real Estate Agent slash Councillor probably has the land sold already...

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Fred Fisher....

Fishy Fishy In The Bay, Bite This Line And Make My Day....

Exactly my point about the OFAH, that's why I should write another letter.

This is the kind of thing they should be helping us with. But if they don't know about it, they can't help either. And if they got one letter from each of their 100,000 members maybe they would sit up and take notice that we are sick and tired of having our fishing and hunting spots taken away from us. I can only bet this area is not the only place in Ontario slowly losing their right to go hunting and fishing in the places our fathers used to take us.

Just within 8 km's of my house and off the top of my head here's a list of places blocked for outdoor activities:
#1 dam on Trent River -barbed wire\page fence
#6 lock in Frankford -barbed wire\ page fence
Glen Ross boat launch area -chain and posts (used to north side of the channel below the dam)
Glen Ross dam -road gated on weekends.
Bata island -new gate installed on the little road leading to it.
abandoned rail bed between Frankford and Glen Ross -Steel and rock barriers, no motorized vehicles.

What did I miss? Feel free to start listing other places in our area. I know they are out there. And when we realize how much we have already lost, maybe the letters will start to flow.

That or someone just give me a bulldozer

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

Cheese factory owns that launch I guess, thats what I was told

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Amen brother !!! However letters as you know don't do shiat in this democracy. I suggest if we really want or MP's to earn their votes, start knocking on their doors like they do to us every other year....

Are you kidding? You must be really confused. Hard to believe nobody has called you out on this one. This is just about the most backward, lame, shoot yourself in the foot postt ever placed on the board. Congratulations! Lol

I think it was meant more to the point of the smaller things that don't get noticed like these small places getting closed one by one and not about the big things they do like re-introducing turkeys, elk, putting on youth programs, voicing to eliminate the registry and etc.

Sometimes a lot of little things are just as (or more) important than one big thing but all too often are ignored or unknown. My point was to bring all the little things that effect our hunting and fishing to their attention and maybe then they would recognize the need to protect all of our small access areas as well.

I think the comment was directed more to this analogy.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

I received a response today from the OFAH from a letter I sent two months ago on this topic. I'm going to beat a dying horse here again simply because I love hunting and fishing too much and I hate it when I am told I can't fish here and I can't launch there for no sound reason. I'm big enough to know if I should or shouldn't do something and I take responsibility upon myself to know the difference.

Below is the letter I sent to OFAH and their response. Again, I encourage everyone to speak up if they see somewhere else has been closed for us to go fishing or hunting. The person's full contact information is at the bottom of the letter.


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Sent: August-10-2013 12:01 PM
To: ofah@ofah.org
Subject: Protecting our access

Dear OFAH,

We recently had another thread in a fishing\hunting website where another access point has been closed. This particular one was a boat launch in the Quinte region. I made a comment to write to MP's and the OFAH. The response was "when was the last time either of them listened".

There have been multiple access areas closed that used to allow access to fishing in our area. For example, the #1 and #5 dams on the Trent River now have barbed wire fences across them blocking all access. The boat launch in Glen Ross now has a chain across the road. The abandoned rail bed by Marmora is now fenced off and the list goes on.

I see things the OFAH does such as re-introducing programs, but I do not see the smaller things being done like keeping access open for us to be able to go hunting and fishing. It seems all to common for governments to close areas off with no regard. Then to charge us to launch our boat at their launches.

I realize knowing about all these small areas is very difficult, but there must be someway of stopping governments from simply blocking everything that doesn't make them money. I also realize of course they are protecting themselves from liabilities.

But there is nothing worse than walking up to you old fishing hole and finding barriers and signs telling you to keep out. These are the same places where I used to go with my father as a child. Now I have to look down at my two children and tell them we can't go here anymore and I have no answer to their question as to why. That is a sad day in my books and becoming more and more common.

If nothing else, I hope this at least raises the concern to your organization.
Regards,
Dave Bridgewater

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Good Morning Dave,

I apologize for the late response on this matter – we are in a bit of a transition for this position and so I am only working part-time on Land Use related files at this point, as such it’s taking a little longer to get to everyone’s request. I sincerely apologize for the delay.

Access issues are something that we do take quite seriously. Obviously, it’s difficult to hunt and fish if you cannot even access prime areas! This is certainly of concern in Southern Ontario where, as you know, maintaining access continues to be a challenging but very important matter. It is important that members, such as yourself, bring these issues to our attention. It’s a mighty big province, and although we keep tabs on issues as best we can we rely on our members to bring forward these “smaller” more local issues that we may not otherwise immediately hear of.

When you have a moment, I would appreciate if you could either please call me or send an e-mail with more details on this issue and I will investigate what options we may have available for maintaining this access point. Do you happen to know who owns the area in question? Is it public or privately owned? Any additional information you could provide would be greatly appreciated.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Yours in Conservation,
Shari Sokay

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Hi Shari,

To begin with places being closed just within a few miles of Frankford:

#1 dam on Trent River barbed wire fence so you can't cross the dam anymore like has been done for 100 years -Parks Canada
Frankford dam on Trent River barbed wire fence so you can't cross the dam anymore like has been done for 100 years -Ontario Hydro is my guess, but maybe Parks Canada again
Glen Ross access to the dam - Parks Canada
Glen Ross access to the old boat launch - Parks Canada
The boat launch at Black River
The abandoned railbed just south of Marmora to Callahan's rapids
I know there are more over the years, just drawing a blank right now. I know there are areas like these all across Ontario.
Dave
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Thanks Dave,

This is exactly the kind of information that we need brought forward to us. And the sooner we hear about these things, the better. I’ll start investigating the areas that you’ve listed and work on getting a hold of the respective owners for discussing options.

The Land Use Specialist position here is dedicated specifically to dealing with access related issues, such as the ones you have identified, so I can assure you that retaining access is something that is core to OFAH’s mandate! I’ll look into these specific sites and get back to you once I have more information. Please pass on any additional information as it comes up, and of course, please do contact us if you hear of any similar closures in the future.

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

Yours in Conservation,

Shari Sokay
Land Use Specialist
Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
P.O. Box 2800, 601 Guthrie Drive
Peterborough, ON K9J 8L5
Phone: 705-748-6324 Ext. 268
Fax: 705-748-9577
E-mail: shari_sokay@ofah.org

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

Exactly my point.

Why stop me and 1000's of others fishing at the dams where we have gone for years because of a few unfortunate instances at the #1 dam where some people did not use their better judgement? (IE. diving off the piers into a strong current or falling off the piers in the middle of the night while fishing).

That said, there has never been a drowning to my knowledge at the dam in Frankford which they blocked completely. There has been multiple drownings at Chisolm Mill dam. Should this be blocked from fishing? As soon as someone drowns at the first dam in Belleville where the salmon run up to, should this be blocked as well? Or simply block it now from fishing before someone does.

I used to use the dam as a means to cross safely from one side to the other to fish along the shores above and below the dam, as did 1000's of others. The better thing at the #1 dam to have done was blocked off the piers themselves where less than better judgement was used and left the primary access across the dam itself alone. There can be a compromise.

It's the same as just last night I was blocked by a gate trying to go duck hunting in Glen Ross. Parks Canada blocked it because too many people littered there. I agree with that and two years ago, my family cleaned this whole area and we took 15 bags of garbage out of there for the annual trash bash. And now I can't go there because of the actions of others. Yes, I am glad we cleaned up the area, it looks so much nicer than it did. But people who litter should be charged. Simply blocking us from hunting and fishing isn't right. Again, there can be a compromise.

We will never be free if we don't stand up and say something.

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE

BOOM goes the dynamite!!! We should ask the Liberals if they have a couple of nickles to loan us just to get started. We have to help ourselves I think before things get much worse but it doesn't seem like anyone has an appetite for it. Easier to just roll over I guess.

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I fish because the voices in my head tell me to.



Ass Monkey

I was talking to lady in the Blackriver Cheese Factory today and she told me she thot they closed the launch for safety reasons, truck traffic that they have going on down there, and other vehicle traffic, and also parents not watching their small kids when vehicles are using the area.Apparently the factory owns the launch so she says.

I added another place they recently blocked our access to fishing and let the OFAH know about that one as well. Here's the latest letter received from the OFAH regarding our access:

Hello,

I have recently taken on the role of Land Use Specialist with OFAH. I just wanted to let you know that Shari has shared your access concerns with me (below). I will be looking into these sites and will keep you updated on my progress.

Please feel free to contact me anytime with any other questions or concerns you may have. On behalf of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, I would like to thank you for your continued support.

Chris Godwin M.Sc.
Land Use Specialist
Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
Phone: 705-748-6324 Ext. 268

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HUNT, FISH and RIDE