The
Temagami Area Fish Involvement Program was started in 1985.
It is a volunteer organization working in cooperation with
the Ministry of Natural Resources.
Sites for
rehabilitation work are selected, debris is removed, and the rock
beds are cleared of silt using high pressure water pumps.
When water temperature reaches 6-7°C in the spring, spawning
walleye are caught in trap nets, eggs and milt are carefully
stripped on site and rushed back to the hatchery on the Temagami
waterfront, where the eggs are placed in jars which are charged with
a steady stream of water.
After 19-21 days, eggs “eye-up” and begin to hatch.
For the next few days they live off their yolk sacs; in a few
more days they begin swimming.
Hatch rates in these incubators are much higher than hatch rates in
the wild, and give the population a boost to ensure a healthy
population in years to come.
Meanwhile, the
rearing ponds are fed a mash of grains, which have been decomposed
by bacterial inoculation.
The mash promotes zooplankton which the young fish will live
on. The young fish are
then brought to the ponds and are carefully monitored
until they reach 5-7 cm. They
must now be removed from the
ponds and stocked in their respective watersheds.
TAFIP encourages CATCH & RELEASE.
Visit the hatchery on
Lakeshore Drive, west
of the
Municipal
Building
.
The
Lake Temagami “Ling Fling” Fish Fry supports T.A.F.I.P.
For
those that wish to support Pickerel stocking in Temagami and area
lakes, donations to the program are accepted and welcome. Help
us give nature a helping hand and put more of these young Pickerel
into the wild.
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