Clinton News-Record, 1986-09-24, Page 22Page 22—CLINTON NEWS-RE,2ORD, WEDNESDAY. SEPTEMBER 24, 1986
Resurrecting the lake trout in the Great Lakes
There's a million stories in the freshwater
fisheries of Ontario and the battle to save
the lake trout of the Great Lakes from ex-
tinction against the venerable foes of over-
fishing and lamprey predation is one that
will make its mark in the province's wildlife
history.
It all began in 1829. The Welland Canal
was opened, circumventing Niagara Falls
and joining Lake Ontario with Lake Erie. It
proved an instant success with Canadian
commerical lake traffic as an alternative
shipping route to the long, arduous Erie
Canal.
Over time, the Welland Canal also opened
up the Great Lakes t� a very undesirable
'and alien guest the land locked sea lam-
prey. This parasitic creature was, -until the
canal's construction, confined to the waters
below Niagara Falls.
It was actually almost a century before
the first male and female sealamprey found
their way through the Welland Canal locks
and into suitable spawning streams. And it
was 1921 before the first land locked sea
lamprey distinguished from its ocean-going
cousins by its smaller size was discovered
in Lake Erie.
But less than 20 years later, the sea lam-
prey had established itself in Lakes Huron
and Michigan, where favorable habitat con-
ditions allowed it to proliferate to the point
where lamprey populations spilled over into
Lake Superior.
These Great Lakes provided the sea lam-
prey with both a deep water habitat and
ideal spawning streams. More importantly,
they were replete with the lamprey's
favorite prey the lake trout onto which the
parasite would attach itself.
Lamprey destroyed the lake trout com-
mercial fishing industry in Lake Huron and
Lake Michigan, and almost destroyed the
entire lake trout populations in both lakes.
The battle to eradicate the lamprey took
on international proportions with the forma-
tion of the Great Lakes Fishery Commis-
sion.. Immediately after its creation in 1956,
this Canadian -American commission devis-
ed and approved an electrical barrier
designed to stop lampreys on their way
upstream to spawn.
Unfortunately, while the "weir" was ef-
fective at killing lamprey, it was just as ef-
fective at killing fish, such as walleye and
rainbow trout and even animals, such as
beaver and moose. This clearly inap-
propriate answer to the lamprey problem
was also very expensive and hard to
maintain.
The lamprey's unusual life cycle pr ed
to be the basis for a new, more worka le
solution to the dilemma.
A spawning female lamprey can lay up to
200,000 eggs in its sand and gravel streamb-
ed nest. Only 10 per cent usually survive,
due to natural predation. These young lam-
prey, or "ammocoetes," leave the nest after
about three weeks and drift downstream.
When they reach stream banks composed
of sand, silt or mud, the ammocoetes bur-
row their tails into what will be their homes
for the next 10 to 11 years.
During that time, ammocoetes live on
minute plant and animal material. By their
eighth year, they, usually develop the rasp-
ing tongue and sharp teeth which enable
them to attach themselves to their prey.
After growing to between 10 and 15 cen-
timetres in length, the sea lamprey swims to
the lake draining the stream in which it was
born. It returns to its birthplace one year
later to breed and die.
In the early 1960's, "lampricide" was in-
troduced, a chemical which was formulated
to selectively kill lamprey during their
vulnerable annocoete period.
Today, lampricide is carefully sprayed
upstream from known lamprey spawning
sites. It then drifts downstream and sinks in-
to the sandystream banks where am-
mocoetes are most likely found.
The lampricide is very effective - 90 per
cent of the creatures are eradicated in some
streams, says Dr. Doug Dodge, supervisor
of the Ontario Ministry of Natural
Resources' (MNR) environmental
dynamics section.
But no adverse effects have ever been
recorded on the fish, plants or animals in the
spraying area.
"Stronger lampricides as well as improv-
ed distribution methods have since been
developed to say ahead of 'lamprey
reproduction," Dodge says. "Barrier dams
have also been devised to prevent the
upstream migration of adult lamprey so
that they cannot spawn."
The introduction of lampricide coincided
with MNR's first trout restocking efforts.
Research toward a Great Lakes restock-
ing plan had demonstrated that a hybrid
trout would mature faster and spawn earlier
than pure lake trout, thereby giving the fish
population a chance to hold its own against
lamprey predation. After 10 years of study,
the splake was inroduced to the Great
Residents face increase
By Wilma Oke
VANASTRA - Homeowners in Vanastra
will face a 6.67.per cent increase in water
rates starting November 1 when the Clinton
Public Utilities Commission, which supplies
the water to Vanastra, increases its rates.
Presently Vanastra residents pay 90 cents
per thousand gallons and on the first of
November they will start paying 96 cents
per thousand gallons. On an average, clerk -
treasurer Jack McLachlan said Vanastra
uses one and a half million gallons per
month.
The Ministry of Environment„has an-
nounced it will drop a special rabies vaccine
for foxes to help prevent the spread of rabies
in the township which is rather severe in
Huron County and other counties in Ontario
this year.
The Ausable-Bayfield Conservation
Lakes.
Eight hundred thousand of these half lake
trout, half brook trout were stocked in
Georgian Bay every year for eight years.
Then, in 1977, unsatisfactory results an
adverse public opinion brought the splake
program to a halt.
Criticisms of the program ranged from
the splake's alleged inability to reproduce
naturally to its apparent lack of popularity
among anglers to condemnations for spen-
ding tax money on a project which was
perceived as ineffective.
"Opinions are divided as to why the
splake experiment did not succeed,” says
John Byrne, supervisor of MNR's fish
culture section.
"Some experts believe that diseases in the
hatchery were at fault. But others are more
convinced that the brook trout genes in
splake caused the fish to mature too quickly,
causing an early death."
What followed was an intensive re-
examination of the program. Two years
after shelving its splake restocking project,
MNR was ready to try again with the lake
trout backcross, a hybrid that is about 75 per
cent lake trout and 25 per cent brook trout
selected to resolve the earlier problems.
Nearly one million of these fish have been
planted in Georgian Bay every year_ since
1979, and the results of this project have
been much more encouraging than the
earlier experiments with the splake.
"For one thing, they are living longer,"
says Stan Munroe, MNR's Lake Huron
fisheries coordinator.
"We have caught backcross that are six or
seven years old and weigh over seven
kilograms."
But the best indication that the backcross
experiment may be a success is the fact that
naturally reproduced backcross fry have
been discovered near Owen Sound for the.
last two consecutive years.
Although only 14 of the backcross fry were
seen in 1986, and only three in 1985, resear-
chers are cautiously optimistic.
To find these fry, which are only two cen-
timetres long,in the immensity of Georgian
Bay, is a significant discovery," Munroe
says.
After nearly 25 years of study, experimen-
tation, and false starts, actual proof now ex-
ists that a man-made hybrid of lake trout
can reproduce in the wild.
Index fishing will be undertaken by
Ministry staff during future slimmers. The
presence or absence of MNR fin markings,
used to identify hatchery stock, will
distinguish naturally spawned fish from
those stocked by the ministry. (For index
fishing, staff sample all fish -age classes by
using variable mesh sizes of gill nets.)
Despite the efforts to both restock the
Great Lakes with a lake trout hybrid and to
control the sea lamprey population, the pro-
blem still won't easily be solved.
Recent evidence indicates that the lam-
prey population is actually increasing in the
St. Marys River.
Lamprey breeding conditions are so ideal
that completely eradicating the creature
from this river would be a very expensive
proposition, according to Dodge.
Solutions don't come easily in the world of
fisheries research. The lake trout saga is a
case in point. But perservering souls like
those involved' in bringing back the lake
trout will ensure that the search continues
for new and innovative approaches to
rebuilding and stabilizing depleted fish
populations in our waterways.
Authority has offered the township sugar
maples or Norway maples this fall. The
township will order 50 to plant along the
road allowances and any ratepayer wanting
some planted at the front of the property
where they live is invited to phone the
township office, 482-9523, to request some to
be planted by the township.
The township will order a new nine -foot
one way snow plow from Champion Road
Machinery at Goderich at a cost of $3,600.
Council will tender for a new half -ton
truck, replacing the present truck.
Court of Revision was held on the Carter
Drainage Works and as no appeals were
heard the drain was approved. Tenders for
the work on the drain were opened and that
of Bay -Line of Clinton was accepted. Work
will start in October and completed before
the end of November.
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• PRESENTS
viitKTiiepfiRE
FRI. - SAT. AT 7 8L 9; SAT. MATINEE 2:00 P.M.
• PAaEMTAL'
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SPECIAL SHOWING
SAT., SEPT. 27
a different
set of jaws.
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• AT
• MIDNIGHT ONLY
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•TOM HANKS
® fe)eCCOMPM i.6,71
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JACK IE GLEASON 4 •
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SUN. - THURS. 7:30
"ABSOLUTELY
SENSATIONAL!"
—Gary Franklin, ABC Radio
F:\FtUI\ 1 rri Ii:
; Vulrierablt, and Alone The periectvlctlm ..,
Or so he thought
Coming Events
BAYFIELD LION'S CLUB Jumbo Bingo, Bayfield
Arena, every Friday night. Doors open 6:30 p.m.
Early Bird Games starting 7:45.-15-410r
ENDS THURS., SEPT. 25 7:30
ITS A COMEDY AND A DRAMA.
JUST LIKE LIFE
NOT F i I NG
IN COMMON
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• 524-9981
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• A Frightening Comedy.
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•••••••••••••••$D•••
'rcrsi r. CI rtrsrrr..r.v r.. sOW..a ... ...,....
ST11IN DRIVE -1
GODERICHI
.tyejJoie re..::::,I../s0s4...41e.O.`.V.i_.yiYa .fa: ..., kik 11.
FRI. - SAT: - SUN. SEPT. 26 - 27 - 28
GRACE JONES
Horror 1
tetUTAL VIOLENCE
theatres Ilranth OM
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REFORM
SCHOOL
GIRLS
BOX OFFICE OPENS
7:00 P.M.
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BINGO: Vanastra Rec Centre, Tuesdays, 8 p.m.
First reg. card $1., fifteen reg. $20. games, three
share -the -wealth. Jackpot $200. must go. Lucky
Ball $240.00 (if not won). Lucky Ball increases
$20. per week. Admission restricted to 16 years
and over.—tfar
LUNCHEON BUFFET: All you core to eat, every
Friday, 11:30 - 1:30. Salad bar, bread table, hot
dishes. $4.95 Per person. Blyth Inn
523-9381.-34tf
CLINTON LEGION Branch 140 mixed darts league
commences Thursday, October 2nd. at 8 pm. Non
members welcome.-38.40ar
CLINTON LEGION Branch 140 euchre league com-
mences Tuesday, October 7 at 8 pm sharp. Non
members welcome.-38.40ar
ROAST BEEF Supper, Brucefield United Church,
Wednesday, October" 15, 1986, 5-8 p.m. Adults
$7.00, Children 6-12, $3.50, under 6 free. Ad-
vance tickets only. For tickets call 482-7477 or
482-7188.-39-41
ROYAL WINTER Fair bus trip and horse show. Call
482-9536.-39
iHEitE WILL be un Open -ouw. k L'ou 3i1:1 Caro!
(nee Cartwright) Munnings, 206 Albert St., Clin-
ton, Sunday, September 28, 2-5:00 p.m. Everyone
welcome. -39x
THE GRAND Opening of the Playground Equip-
ment at Clinton' Public School has been postpon-
ed until a later date when Provincial Dignitaries•
will be able to attend, -39
ONTARIO STREET UNITED CHURCH Annual Pork
Barbecue Wednesday, OiCtober 1 from 4:30 - 8
p.m. Adults $7, children,,,12 and under $3.50,
preschoolers free. Advance tickets only,
482-9232.-37-39
1ST COUNTRY Croft Festival, Goderich Township
Community Centre, Hotmesville, October 3, 1
p.m. - 9 p.m.; October 4, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. October
5, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. Lunch available. Admission,
Adults .50 cents. -38-40x
EURO -CANADIAN CLUB Inc., 6th Annual
Oktoberfest '86, Blyth Arena, 8 p.m. - 1 a.m.
Saturday, October 11, Music by "The Hornets".
Tickets at door, $6.00, food available. Proceeds
to the Clinton Minor Hockey League. -39,40
PRE-SCHOOL Story Hour at Clinton Public School,
Monday, October 6, 10:30 a.m. for 3 and 4 year
olds accompanied by ari adult.-39ar
BREAKFAST and Brunch in conjunction with
Ciderfest, Sunday, Sept. 28, 9 a.m. • 2 p.m.
Tuckersmith Township shed in Egmondville.
Adults $4.00, children' $2.00, sponsored by
Seaforth Agricultural Society.-39,40or
BINGO: Upstairs Clinton Arena every Thursday.
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Bingo at 7:45. $200
jackpot to go. Sponsored by Clinton Junior
D.-39tfar
DRUMS! Kids concert Saturday, October 4 at 2
p.m., Blyth Memorial Hall, Tickets $4.00. Phone
523-9300. —39a r
DESSERT euchre and bake sale, Brucefield United
Church, October 7, 1 p.m. Admission $2.00. Door
Prizes. Everyone welcome. -39,40
CARD PARTY - 1.0.0 F. Hall, Brucefield, Friday,
September 26 at 8:30 p.m. Everyone welcome.
Ladies please bring lunch. Admission
$1 .50.-39x
HURON COUNTY Family Planning invite you to
attend Family Planning Clinic every Thursday
from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Huron County Health
Unit, Public Health Wing, Huronview, Clinton.
Counselling and medical services
provided.-49eow
HURONVIEW BAZAAR, Tea and Bake Sale on
Wednesdny. October 8. 39,401:
BLYTH INN HOTEL, Sunday Brunch, served 11
a.m. - 2 p.m.; roast beef buffet served 4 - 7 p.m.
All you care to eat. Reservations: 523-9381.-34H
32ND ANNUAL Clinton Hospital Auxiliary Penny
Sale, September 27 at St. Paul's Anglican Church
Parish Hell. Open daily starting September 18, 10
am - 6 pm except Friday 10 am - 9 pm. -37-39
PMS WORKSHOP Wed., Oct. 8, 19867-10 pm Clin-
ton Town Hall. Sponsored by Women Being Well.
For more info or to register please call Marg at
482-9706.-39, 40ar
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 3 celebrate Oktoberfest at the
Blyth Inn. Ribs, Pig Tails and Sauerkraut served
from 11:30 am - 1:30 pm in the dining room; 12
noon - 1:30 pm and 5 pm - 8 pm in the
lounge.-39,40ar
ATLANTIC CITY CASINO NIGHT, sponsored by
Clinton Public Hospital Building Fund, will be
held October 4 at Clinton Legion.. Elimination
draw for a 1987 Cutless Ciera will be held as well
as a chance to win a trip to Atlantic City. Cash
prizes and games of chance are featured. Tickets
available at Fund Raising Office
482-5528,-39,40ar
Stabilization program
is an its .econd year
Low commodity prices for crops have
created a lot of interest in the income
stabilization program for crops for 1986.
This is the second year of the three year pro-
gram. Producers who were enrolled in the
program last year, will automatically
receive an application for this year.
New Participants
Producerswho did not enroll last year,
may enroll this year. However, if a grower
had crops eligible for enrollment last year,
but did not enroll, a penalty applies. Any
payment made by the program will only ap-
ply to 80 percent of eligible production. New
participants may pick up application forms
TICKETS AVAILABLE FROM
Fund -Raising Office
MON FRI. 10 AM -2 PM
482-5528
OR FROM ANY COMMITTEE MEMBER
CLINTON PUBLIC HOSPITAL
PRESENTS
OUR FUNDRAISING DRIVE
KICKOFF
ATLANTIC CITY
CASINO
AND FUN NIOHT
Saturday, October 4
at the
Clinton Legion Hall
9 p.m. - 1 a.m.
ADMISSION: $2. PER PERSON
FEATURING:
•ELIMINATION DRAW FOR '87 OLDS
CUTLASS CIERA (STILL A FEW TICKETS
LEFT - HAVE YOU GOT YOURS YET?)
•GAMES OF CHANCE
•LOTS MORE!
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SEAFORTH
LIONS CLUB.
FOURTH
ANNUAL
AT SEAFORTH AND DISTRICT COMMUNITY CENTRES '-A-
FESTIVITIES START AT 7:30 -PM until 1 AM
MUSIC BY THE FABULONS
ADMISSION $6 per person
Proceeds to community projects
OKTOBERFEST FOODS sauerkraut & sausage
Age of majority required
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at the Agricultural office, Clinton.
Enrolled Producers
Producers who were enrolled last year
should have received the provincial interim
payment of $3.50 per tonne for corn and $9
per tonne for soybeans sold to a licensed
elevator before March 31,, 1986. Only those
producers who enrolled their 1985 crop last
fall in the program are eligible for this pay-
ment. To receive payment for sales other
than to a licensed elevator on sales between
March 31 and August 31, all enrolled pro-
ducers will be sent applications this fall and
(November -December) to apply. At this
time, the stabilization commission will have
calculated the full amount of the payout for
the crop year. Remember, that the interim
payment is only an initial payment on the 85
corn and soybean crop and there could be an
additional payment now that the crop year
has ended (September 1, 1985 - August 31,
1986). You must have proof of sale to make a
claim. 1985 corn or soybeans sold after
August 31, are not covered under the 1985
program, but may be enrolled in the 1986
program.
Each year, producers are required to
enroll that year's production in the program
and pay fees which are due. For 1986, pro-
ducers must enroll before October 1, 1986. If
you were enrolled in 1985, the balance of the
fees on deposit from 1985, may be deducted
from the fees due for 1986.
Payouts under the program, cover the
lesser of the actual amount of a crop sold by
a producer or the amount enrolled.
Producers would enroll all those crops
harvested in 1986 that are eligible. This
would include crops grown for seed, red
wheat, and winter and spring canola or
rapeseed harvested this year.
Livestock producers who buy and sell
grain or feed, will only be eligible for the net
sales of grain. Although a producer must
enroll the total number of tonnes he intends
to sell, any payment is made on the total ton-
nes sold less the amount of grain or feed
purchased.
Producers with questions may call the On-
tario Ministry of Agriculture and Food in
Clinton at 482-3428 or 1-800-265-5170 or
1-800-265-5171.
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Advertising
helpsjobs.
obs•
CANADIAN ADVERTISING
FOUNDATION
OPEN. RECEPTION
for
STEVE JOHNSTON
and
CHERYL MARSHALL
Saturday, September 27
at
Holmes' UUIe
9pmto1 am
GAGE OF MAJORITY ONLY.
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