Commercial Fishing on Ottawa River?

[Whateverbites]

Hi all,

I noticed at the Landsdowne Farmer's Market yesterday that there is a booth selling smoked crappie, catfish and bullhead, among other things. I asked where they got the fish and they said the Ottawa River. I'm just curious what the rules are for commercial fishing from the Ottawa? I had no idea any such industry, even small, existed.

Not saying they are doing anything wrong, just surprised that there is money or a market for Ottawa River catfish

Link to the vendor is here: https://ottawafarmersmarket.ca/vendors/ ... -products/.

Cheers!

[Piscivore]

My wife noticed them at the market too. Have you found out anything more or contacted MNRF? The vendor is located in Ontario and I know there are a few commercial licenses for sturgeon left. I am very curious about the crappie though, I have difficulty believing that a commercial license would be issued for them on the Ottawa.

I'd like to know a little more about it.

[Daboss]

From https://www.ontario.ca/page/lake-sturge ... y-strategy
"Exploitation (e.g., the legal harvest of fish) is not considered as a current threat to Lake Sturgeon recovery as recreational harvests and commercial harvests, for the most part, have been prohibited across Ontario."
And from https://mffp.gouv.qc.ca/english/publica ... itions.asp
"It is prohibited to sell, buy, trade or offer to buy the following fish when they are caught during sportfishing in Québec or when they are caught elsewhere under a sportfishing licence: bass, allis shad, American eel, striped bass, white bass, brown bullhead, channel catfish, carp, copper redhorse, river redhorse, panfish, sturgeon, northern pike, chain pickerel, walleye, rainbow smelt, burbot, black crappie, muskellunge, yellow perch, char, landlocked salmon, Atlantic salmon, tench, lake trout, rainbow trout and brown trout. Furthermore, it is prohibited to sell baitfish caught while sportfishing or to sell, buy or trade or offer to buy an Atlantic salmon that comes from a natural environment."

Next time you go, politely ask to see his license.

[Masruq]

This might answer your question https://www.google.com/amp/s/ottawaciti ... r-here/amp

According to the article it says they inherited the license from a friend. However it doesnt mention any details about the licence.

[Lunker Larry]

There are no commercial licenses left for sturgeon on the ottawa. Both the Ontario and Quebec govts bought them out. Not sure about aboriginal.
There are still a few commercial fishing licenses on the Ottawa but it is minimal. The MNRF would love to see more cat fish caught commercially as they are the largest biomass on the Ottawa River and the most under utilized.

[zippyfx]

From what I gather it seems to be legal. From this link (http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/stats/commerci ... 16-eng.htm) we can infer:
- commercial Sturgeon fishing is legal in Quebec
- commercial channel catfish fishing is legal in Quebec and Ontario
- commercial bullhead fishing is covered under catfish and hence legal in Quebec and Ontario
- Nothing specific about crappie that I could find but theywould likely be included in the "other" or "sunfish" category

Background:
https://ottawacitizen.com/life/food/fou ... -near-here
http://ici.radio-canada.ca/emissions/bi ... que=379728
http://edibleottawa.ediblecommunities.c ... e-sturgeon
- They catch about 340 a year
- I am not sure any level of fishing for Sturgeon is sustainable given that they are such a long lived fish. I think this is a marketing ploy. Just because you can get a license for it does not mean it is sustainable.
- They seem to use gill nets from the two pictures I have seen (link above and picture below)
- pretty rough handeling for a fish that may not meet minimum requirement: