Throughout the history of waterfowl and wildlife management, several techniques have been developed and used to count or track birds to determine population sizes and habitat use. These methods included mark-recapture techniques (e.g., banding, color-marking, and radio and satellite transmitters) and ground-based or aerial surveys. Because waterfowl often congregate in large numbers and are found in wetland habitats, they are generally quite easily observed and counted from the air.

With the proclamation of the Heritage Hunting and Fishing Act, 2002, the Government of Ontario recognized that hunting and fishing have played important roles in shaping Ontario's social, cultural and economic heritage and that recreational hunters and anglers have made important contributions to the understanding, conservation, restoration and management of Ontario's fish and wildlife resources. The Act not only provides for the establishment of the Ontario Fish and Wildlife Heritage Commission, but specifically creates, for the fist time, a statutory right to hunt and fish in the Province. Specifically, subsection 1(1) of the Act provides that: “A person has a right to hunt and fish in accordance with the law.”

Located within a seven hour drive of Southern Ontario, at the hub of the upper Great Lakes, lies what might be the best fly fishing for migratory salmonoids east of their indigenous Pacific native waters. The impressive St. Mary's Rapids, located in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, funnels all of mighty Lake Superior's clean cold water into a half km wide series of granite and sandstone rapids that drops over 7 m in less than one kilometer. Once an historic native Ojibway fishing ground teeming with whitefish, the introduction of steelhead in the late nineteenth century resulted in a fishery that made Ernest Hemingway write in 1920 that "At present the best rainbow trout fishing in the world is in the rapids at the Canadian Soo ... It is a wild and nerve-frazzling sport".

Newcomers to our pastime are often intimidated by the supposed intricacies of choosing and presenting the right offering to their finned quarry. Most of us can't even pronounce such mouthfuls as Stenonema tripuncatum, and instead choose to supplement more descriptive four letter words best not uttered in the presence of children. We find it bizarre that trout would sooner sip tiny, rice-sized critters and snobbily turn their noses up at more meatier entrees. A "Drag Free Float" to a few of us, may even mean that you cannot enter the drift boat in your wife's dress (this last group, alas may be beyond help).

The former president of the United States may not have known just how right he was in  his comments about changing times. Any doubters need look no further than Sept. 11 or the deadly sniper attacks that have been playing themselves out in the Washington, D.C. area over the past few weeks. These attacks have raised the issue of gun control for our southern neighbours, where the right to bear arms has been held sacred for most of the country during its entire history.Of course, it's a fool's debate because gun control, at least as constituted in Canada, would have no impact on the events in Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia.

Picture this scenario.   It’s the early 1900's in Ontario.  Fish and wildlife populations are declining at an ever increasing rate.  Commercial fishing and commercialized fishing are heavily impacting on naturally reproducing fish stocks and little thought is being given to future populations. Commercial fishing records indicate that annual catches in the millions of pounds occurred in the early part of the 20th century.   Charter fishing in the Great Lakes for Lake Trout takes on mammoth proportions and children wheel wagons full of Lake Trout around Great Lakes communities for sale at up to $0.10 per pound. 
 

Mute Swans (Cygnus olor), endemic to Eurasia, were introduced to North American city parks, zoos, avicultural collections, and estates in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The intentional releases and accidental escape of these birds and their progeny resulted in a rapidly expanding free-flying feral population along the northeastern Atlantic Coast of the United States, portions of the Pacific Coast, and more recently, much of the southern half of the Great Lakes basin. It is well known that exotic waterfowl can have negative ecological impacts on native species, particularly if the introduced species is aggressive, competes with other waterfowl for food or habitat, and/or hybridizes with native species. Although hybridization is not currently a problem with Mute Swans in North America, the species' size, extremely aggressive disposition, and voracious appetite make it a strong competitor with substantial regional impacts on native waterfowl and their habitats.
 

Beginning in October 2000 the Owen Sound MNR and Muskies Canada undertook a study to learn more about the river-resident muskie in the Saugeen River watershed. Very little is known about the biology of this magnificent fish within the Saugeen River and its tributaries. For years anglers have shared stories of various accounts with muskie in the Saugeen, however, fisheries managers recorded little of this.  In order to manage and protect this unique population, the MNR, with the help of Muskies Canada, are collecting information, which will help to preserve this great fish.