SUBJECT: Official Documentation of Interprovincial Boundary in the Ottawa

MEMORANDUM

TO: The Executive of O.F.A.H. – ZONE ‘E’

FROM: Alfred Beck, OFAH Member # 002236

DATE: May 29, 2013

SUBJECT: Official Documentation of Interprovincial Boundary in the Ottawa River and respective Rights to Fish and Hunt for Residents of Ontario and Quebec who possess valid Fishing/Hunting Licences

A NEED FOR PUBLICATION IN ONTARIO & QUEBEC FISHING and HUNTING REGULATION SUMMARIES

Gentlemen:

I propose that this topic being brought to the attention of the OFAH Fisheries Advisory Committee, the OFAH Waterfowl Advisory Committee and the OFAH Board of Directors for initiating remedial action.

The Ontario and Quebec Fishing and Hunting Regulation Summaries must contain relevant printed information, preventing Ontario and Quebec fishermen and waterfowl hunters from breaking existing conservation laws as well as being charged for same.

This topic surfaces periodically when, particularly Ontario residents, are being warned by Conservation Officers resulting from from numerous regulation changes over the years by the Quebec authorities.

The cause of this memo is an incident when an Ontario fisherman (and others) with a valid Ontario Angling Licence was warned by an Ontario conservation officer not to fish near the lighthouse located on Leblanc Island which is located in the Province of Quebec “Portion of the Ottawa River”.

Whether that particular warning was related to territorial matters pertaining to angling in an Interprovincial waterway, or simply to warn licensed Ontario residents of the almost province-wide “live bait ban” in the province of Quebec, is not clear. Nevertheless, there needs to be clarity about WHERE the referred to “Ontario Portion” throughout Fishing Zone 12 ends, plus making Ontario residents aware of the “live bait ban” in the “Quebec Portion” of the Ottawa River!

In absence of any printed official information, advising licensed fishermen and waterfowl hunters of the current Quebec regulations ... many Ontario and non-resident fishermen favour fishing for walleye near that Leblanc Island location, because the waters there are very productive. And there are likely other glory holes elsewhere in FZ 12...... /2 (2)

It is therefore, that the O.F.A.H. needs to lobby both, the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and its Quebec counterpart to publish in their respective Fisheries & Hunting Regulations Summaries WHERE the documented Interprovincial Bounday is, and can be recognized without sophisticated equipment, plus WHERE and when licensed residents of both provinces are allowed to fish and hunt waterfowl!

For your enlightenment, please read what follows.

The Interprovincial Boundary

Over time, there have been different determinations where that boundary is. - On most road maps, Regulation Summaries and Hydrographic Charts the Interprovincial Bounday is depicted as being the center of the Ottawa River. - A verbal communication suggests that the Interprovincial Boundayry follows the deepest part of the ‘main channel”, that is to say the deepest trench of the river bottom. – Without sophisticated eco-sounding equipment .. a determination by lay-persons is impossible. One can also assume that the deepest trench has a very irregular relation to either the Ontario or Quebec shoreline. - So WHERE exactly is the Ottawa River Interprovincial Boundary and WHERE is it documentd???

The Fisheries Regulations

 Prior to Ontario establishing an Angling Licence, it was understood that residents of both provinces could fish anywhere between the Ottawa River shorelines of Ontario and Quebec. In fact then, Ontario residents (with valid I.D.) where allowed to fish waters within the Province of Quebec ... 8 miles inland between the Shyan River upstream and the town of Quion downstream.  Eventually this rule was changed by Quebec. Also, it is my understanding that with that change came an exclusion for Ontario fishermen, i.e. while the Ottawa River itself was wide open for residents of both provinces ... residents of Ontario could no longer fish within Bays in the province of Quebec. Bays were delineated by drawing a line across the opening of a bay perpendicular to the direction of the Ottawa River.  In absence of documented printed information ... no one seems to be able to determine whether Ontario residents can fish across the Interprovincial Boundary ... wherever that is ... nor being able to obtain clear and non-ambiguous information from the Ontario authorities.

. . . . ./3 (3)

The Confusion about the Main Channel

Across east of Pembroke there is a flow into Hazley’s Bay, which is one channel of the Ottawa River; the bay outflow is through the man-made “Pembroke Canal”. Then there is another channel separating Morrison Island (Quebec)) and Allumette Island (Quebec). The third channel separates Allumette Island from mainland Quebec. This latter channel is deemed to be the “Main Channel”. [verbal communication]

There was another confusion factor entered by the Hon. Alan Pope, around 1983, who determined that between the western limits of the city of Pembroke and its eastern limit ... that the Ottawa River is a LAKE, but not a river! Yet there is a (non-freezing) strong flow over rapids between Morrison and Allumette Islands. This was to accommodate an old party hack’s development of a number of lots he owned located in the Ottawa River flood zone! (Lakes commonly don’t have flood zones)

* * * * From all the foregoing, it should be obvious that a clear, non-ambiguous and documented information is needed to: a) Make it visible to lay-person fishermen to discern WHERE the exact location of the Interprovincial Boundary is ... anywhere in Fisheries Zone 12 and b) WHERE in Fisheries Zone 12 licensed Ontario anglers are allowed to fish, and where not. c) Whether or not any restrictions include Aboriginal residents of both provinces.

This important information should be available in print in the 2014 Fisheries Regulations Summaries of Ontario and Quebec!

I respectfully request that this important matter be brought to the attention of OFAH head office and that some remedial action is forthcoming.

Yours, in Conservation

Alfred Beck