May 2000
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The Ompah Conservation Association Fish HatcheryBy David BrisonThe fish hatchery, operated out of Walter Wilson's small garage near Ompah, expects to release around 4 million walleye fry into North Frontenac lakes this spring. This is business as usual for a group of dedicated volunteers who have learned how to hatch fish from eggs collected each spring when the walleye spawn.
Walter Wilson and Gerry Ladouceur, both retired, have been involved
with the hatchery since its beginning in 1994. With the support of the
Ompah Conservation Association, which now has close to 600 members,
they have lived through the often laborious process of getting
permission from the Ministry of Natural Resources: to collect eggs;
hatch them in their own facilities, and then release them in the lakes.
A core group (Wilson and Ladouceur supplemented by Norm Kirkwood and Stan Elliot) has developed a level of technical expertise approaching that of professional hatchery specialists. In his 1999 Hatchery Report and Field Observations to OCA members, Walter Wilson sums up their work nicely, "We talk the talk and walk the walk and with your help get the job done."
The motivation to set up the hatchery was to give tourism a much-needed boost with sports fishing. "We knew that there were many good walleye lakes in our area, and thought that the MNR had not been doing a good job of maintaining and stocking them", says Wilson. "We thought that we needed to do it ourselves if it was going to get done."
In 1994, the MNR set up nets in Canonto Lake to measure the number of
walleye in the lake. They caught one walleye in 13.5 hours with 4 very
large nets. At that rate, fishing for walleye would have been very
poor. These tests have not been repeated, although the OCA has
requested them. However, Ladouceur who lives on Canonto Lake, says
fishing has improved markedly, based on reports from fisherman. "As a
result, tourism seems to have picked up", he says.
Eggs for the hatchery are gathered in mid to late April by the Ompah group, assisted by MNR staff, in streams where the fish are spawning. An adult female walleye (8 to 10 years) of 8 lbs. can produce 150 000 eggs. Eggs are taken from about 30 females. The females are manually "milked", stripped of their eggs and then released. Sperm is taken from males in the same manner.
The eggs have to be fertilized within minutes after they are gathered. On shore at the spawning beds, the eggs and sperm are mixed in a stainless steel bowl with Fuller's Earth, a mineral compound that can be purchased in a drug store. The earth (aboriginals used muck) keeps the eggs from coagulating. The mixture of eggs and sperm is stirred with a turkey feather.
The fertilized eggs are then transported to Ompah where they are
divided into glass bell jars approximately 18 inches high with a
diameter of 6 inches. The jars are rounded at the bottom. Water flows
directly into the bottom of these jars, gently stirring the eggs,
spills out of the top of the jars, is re-circulated through two tanks,
and then goes back through the bell jars.
The eggs hatch anywhere from 13 to 30 days - depending on the temperature of the water. When the eggs hatch and turn into fry, they swim to the top of the bell jars and are spilled out into the holding tank. They then are taken to the lakes being stocked and released over areas with sufficient weed growth to support their next stage of development.
The Ompah hatchery stocks 8 lakes: Big Lake, Long Schooner, Canonto, Arcol, Turcotte, Miller, Otter, Red Horse, and the Mississippi River. In addition, they supply fry to groups who stock other MNR approved lakes.
The hatchery works under less than ideal conditions. Most hatcheries have a continuous supply of running water and do not have to re-circulate the water as often, which poses special problems. Fungus forms about every 4 days and the bell jars have to be chemically treated. New water has to be introduced and the old water thrown out. Re-circulating water has to be chilled, or heated, in order to stay at a constant temperature when the eggs are hatching.
Walter Wilson and the others have to keep a close eye on the water temperature (Walter frequently gets up in the middle of the night to check). They raise the temperature gradually to about 51 F - a level that hatches the eggs. They wait to hatch the eggs until the lake bottoms have sufficient weed growth to support the young fry. The fry start to eat each other if they are kept too long in the tanks before they are released.
After this season, the Ompah hatchery will move to a site on a stream
flowing out of Palmerston Lake into Canonto Lake. This will provide a
continuous supply of running water and simplify the process. When they
move to their new facilities, they plan to hatch trout (lake, speckled,
brown, and rainbow), as well as walleye.
The MNR has given the OCA a small building (to be used as an office)
and a trailer to house the hatchery apparatus. Wilson and Ladouceur
both stress that, although they had major problems in the past with the
MNR in getting approval for their hatchery, the MNR is now very
cooperative. Also, the ministry fish biologists and hatchery personnel
have always been a great help. "We wouldn't have been able to reach
this level of expertise without their support", says Ladouceur. Wilson
pointed out that the MNR has given them about $5 500 of direct support
this year.
The Ompah hatchery is an impressive accomplishment by a group of older men and women who are committed to contributing to their communities. In coming issues, I will profile some of these fascinating individuals.
