ASSIGINACK—For the first time since 2009 the annual brook trout eyed egg event hosted by Manitoulin Streams Improvement Association (MSIA) had to be cancelled this year as the provincial hatchery which provides the fish eggs experienced a mass die-off.
“We received notification from Hills Lake Hatchery (in Englehart) that they had an issue with new eggs and they experienced a massive die off and there are no longer any brook trout eggs,” said Seija Deschenes, coordinator of MSIA on Wednesday of last week. “We had to cancel our brook trout eyed egg event for this year.”
Eric Seed of Hills Lake Hatchery explained, “We had a big loss of brook trout. Pretty much all of the fish. A bug developed in the egg take with this year’s fish. Our brood stock fish were sick when the spawn took place and they weren’t doing well so we had to use younger fish and it didn’t turn out well.”
MSIA “started restoration work on Norton’s Creek in 2008 and we received 5,000 brook trout eggs (from Hills Lake Hatchery) in 2009 to stock,” said Ms. Deschenes.
Ms. Deschenes said that once again this year, the eyed egg event, which had been scheduled to take place January 17, was anticipating a great response of helpers. “We had two school groups, representatives from fish and game clubs and a lot of new people who were interested in helping out.” And again, this year, 10,000 brook trout eyed eggs were to be provided to MSIA, which is their normal allocation.
On a positive note, “When we had College Boreal here in the fall conducting their electro-fishing at Norton’s Creek, they had good results,” said Ms. Deschenes. “There were lots of smaller brook trout, they visibly saw a lot more brook trout. We always look forward to working with and partnering with the MNR and with the township of Assiginack, but sometimes things happen that are out of your control. It has been really nice being able to hold the eyed-egg event at the Assiginack arena (in Manitowaning) the last couple of years. And would do an educational piece, kids always love the opportunity to participate in this event.”
As of the 2024 brook trout eyed egg event, 120,000 eggs have been released into Norton’s Creek.