Harbour herring plan hopes to spur lake fish rebound - Payoff may include return of muskie, biologist says

Bring lake herring back to the bay and bigger fish will follow.

That’s the hope of a wide-ranging fisheries management plan for Hamilton Harbour that wants to restore herring, once a dominant source of local commercial fishing in the late 19th Century before dying out in the 1930s.

The five-year plan -- the first of its kind for the harbour -- identifies the bay as the best potential spawning area for herring on the western reaches of Lake Ontario, one that could spur the return larger natives species like Atlantic salmon, trout and muskie.

“We feel that lake herring restoration for all of Lake Ontario would benefit greatly from using the harbour as a nursery habitat,” said Jim Bowlby, a Ministry of Natural Resources biologist who helped develop the plan, a joint venture with the Royal Botanical Gardens.

“I still think Hamilton Harbour is the key to restoring western Lake Ontario. We don’t look at it just as Hamilton Harbour, we look at it on the larger picture.”

Mr. Bowlby said the restoration plan will take a two-pronged approach, starting with spawning areas, or shoals, also used by bass and perch.

While the harbour once had 3.5 square kilometres of shoals – fish beds of sand, gravel and rock – most have been filled in or lost to development. The plan hopes to build upon previous restoration efforts that have created shoals by LaSalle Park and along islands on the eastern shore.

The other key component is continued improvement of the harbour’s water quality, including through planned upgrades to Hamilton’s and Burlington’s sewage treatment plants, viewed as essential to improving overall fish habitat.