Planning is essentially complete for the annual Eastern Georgian Bay Stewardship Council (EGBSC) Lake Stewardship Workshop scheduled for Monday, June 27 at the Bobby Orr Community Centre.
This year’s workshop is being conducted in partnership with the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve and is meant to complement their ‘State of the Biosphere Report Card’ initiative. The status of the fisheries on Georgian Bay and inland lakes will be the focus of this workshop. It will provide an opportunity for participants to comment on various indicators currently being used in fisheries management and how best to incorporate them into the report card.
The report card will also deal with emerging issues related to ecosystem health in the biosphere reserve. The workshop will introduce the topic of the Ontario Power Authority’s FIT (Feed-In-Tariff) hydro-development initiative to generate sustainable, green energy. However, in the case of proposed new dam construction, the topic is not without considerable controversy. Rob McGregor from the Ontario Rivers Alliance will address this contentious topic.
“We have been extremely fortunate in attracting tremendously knowledgeable and engaging speakers for our workshops; and 2011 is no exception,” noted Terry Crawford, chairperson for the EGBSC noted. “Rob McGregor is one of the most knowledgeable and passionate individuals on the ecological impacts of hydro-generating stations and dams.”
Council coordinator Eric McIntyre had some startling things to say about the Georgian Bay ecosystem: “Fish community composition and the food web have undergone dramatic changes within the last few years – not decades! On top of the water the Bay may seem unchanged, but below it is not the Georgian Bay of just a few years ago.”
McIntyre commented that invasive species like round goby, quagga mussels and spiny water flea are helping to fuel these changes through significant modifications to the food web and species interactions.
“We’re delighted to have Arunas Liskauskas from the Upper Great Lakes Management Unit to walk us through these changing times,” McIntyre noted. “Arunas’ presentation touches on the status of the main sport and commercial fisheries as well as ecosystem interactions that are driving these changes”.
The workshop is not just for those interested in the Georgian Bay fishery. Preliminary results of the Ministry of Natural Resources’ broad-scale monitoring program for Fisheries Management Zone 15 – inland areas adjacent to Georgian Bay will also be presented.
Members of the general public are welcome to attend the workshop, but are asked to notify Eric McIntyre, EGBSC coordinator at 773-4218 or by e-mail at Eric.McIntyre@Ontario.ca.
Admission is by free will donation.
Scheduled guest speaker – Arunas Liskauskas of the Upper Great Lakes Management Unit with a Georgian Bay walleye; a key species of interest for the Georgian Bay Biosphere Report Card initiative.

Scheduled guest speaker – Arunas Liskauskas of the Upper Great Lakes Management Unit with a Georgian Bay walleye; a key species of interest for the Georgian Bay Biosphere Report Card initiative.