Filling a data gap – Lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) index netting in the North Channel of Lake Huron

The Anishinabek/Ontario Fisheries Resource Centre collaborated with the First Nation communities along the North Channel of Lake Huron – Aundeck-Omni-Kaning, Mississauga, Sagamok Anishnawbek, Serpent River and Wikwemikong Unceded – on a 5-year lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) index netting project. The impetus for this undertaking was concern that adequate information was not available for the derivation of the commercial catch quotas by the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. Traditional First Nation fishing waters were sampled from 2000 to 2004 using the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources index netting methodology. A total of 2,760 lake whitefish were caught in 468 net sets, representing up to 17 year classes. The catch-per-unit-effort, as well as the number of year classes represented in the catch, was greater in Aundeck-Omni-Kaning than in the other four areas in the North Channel. The size and age at which 50% of lake whitefish are mature, ranged from 350 mm to 520 mm and 3 to 5 years, respectively. The data gathered from this study augmented the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources biological catch data and was used in their statistical catch-at-age models for the derivation of lake whitefish commercial catch quotas in the North Channel.