The Saugeen Ojibway Nation is concerned about a dramatic decline in whitefish in their territorial waters around the Bruce Peninsula.
Whitefish is the mainstay of their commercial fishery.
Saugeen biologist Kathleen Ryan said two things appear to be important. First, invasive species like zebra mussels filter out food. Second, stocked lake trout are competing with the whitefish.
"Basically the young whitefish are starving to death. At the same time we're also hearing from our fishermen that the lake trout that are being stocked are pushing lake whitefish out of many of the areas where they used to be," said Ryan Lauzon, the Saugeen Nation's fisheries biologist.
Ryan added that it boils down to a basic problem.
"There's not enough food for salmon and for lake trout and then, on the other hand, to also feed yellow perch, pickerel and lake whitefish and then all of the other fish that are there. We know that there's not enough food," she said.
Both biologists say one way to remedy the decline in whitefish might be to slow down the stocking of lake trout.
The Saugeen Ojibway Nation will be starting a Shoreline Monitoring Project in the next few months to investigate the decline of the whitefish. Ryan will coordinate the project which is being done in conjunction with Bruce Power.
