Per Province de Québec

Province de Québec

Ministère de la Chasse et des Pêcheries Service d'Aménagement de la Faune

THE OUTAOUAIS-ABITIBI DISTRICT REARING PONDS

Per

Richard L. Séguin, biologist,

Chief of the district Outaouais-Abitibi.

Talk given at the Bryson Town Hall, Pontiac County, before the Pontiac Fish and Game Protective Association, May 3Oth, 1962.

Most of you know that the Quebec Department of Game and

Fisheries has organized a new service called the Wildlife Management Service.

That service has to look for the study and the management problemg4

of the

fish and game of the Province.

The Wildlife Management Service has been divided in eleven districts which are under the direction of a biologist. Now the studies and the management of the fish and wildlife will be done on a regional basis rather Chan a provincial basis. The district biologist will pay a better attention to the local conditions.

THE OUTADUAIS-ABITIBI DISTRICT

The district that interests you particularly is the number

6,

It covers the southern section of the watershed of the Lievre river in Papineau county. Its western limits are the provincial boundaries between

Quebec and Ontario. That includes the following counties: Hull, Gatineau, Pontiac, Temiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda and Abitibi-West. The northern

limits are the two counties Abitibi West and Abitibi East. And the eastern limits are the headwaters of the Outaouais and Gatineau rivers.

Within that district there is one provincial park, this is de la Térendrye Park for which I have been the biologist and the superinten- dant since 1958 and there are two Preserves, Kipawa in Temiscamingue and d'Aiguebolle in Abitibi West.

The office of the OUtaouais-Abitibi district is in Hull at 191 Principale Street, room 601. The telephone number is PRovince

6-6661,

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THIS IS A PUBLIC SERVICE

The Wildlife Management Service is a public service and this is the case too of our district office. But in a district such as ours there are different kind of territory. There are the crownland that is opened to the public, the private territories where the land belongs to the people that are the owners and the leased territories where

priviieged people have the rights of fishing or hunting or both of them.

For each category of territory our responsability is different.

For example on private or leased waters we have to supervise the use the privileged people do of them, and to approve or control their management. Beside that mort of our time and efforts are for public waters. On public waters we have to consider first its accessibility. The mort accessible waters will be the first waters surveyed and managed when feasible. For example a lake reached easily by car will be studied before a lake where there are a two miles portage to reach it.

After having considered the accessibility of a body of waters we have to consider the people that are interested in that water.

As you can see a request made by a conservation association of many

hunrlreds members such as gours with 582 will normally be considered before a request made by a single person or e group of a very few people. We have also to consider the fact that some conservation associations will make a better cooperation and will take their responsibility more

seriously about waters they sponsor.

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SURVEYS AND MANAUMENT

When we consider a public lake or a lake accessible to the public we have to get the following informations:

- Name of the lake: There are too many names for the same lake or too many lakes with the same name in the same area.

- Situation of the lake: on a map in describing its latitude and longitude.

Watereled of the lake:

- Area and nature: a small forested watershed is better than a large cultivated one.

- Tributaries: number and description.

- Lakes above: number, size, species of fish present. Hear7waters are casier to manage.

- Outlet: description, dams, rapide, falls, possibilities of building dams when necessary.

Characterieics of the lake:

- Size of the lake: average and maximum length, average and maximum width.

- Depth: soundings to be done in order to prepare a bathvmetric map with depth contour. A V shape basin is more productive than a U chape one.

- Area: total and zone of 0 to 20 feet which is the most productive one.

- Volume and weight: in case of poisoning.

- Shore: development and nature: a lake with a round chape is less productive than one with an irregular one.

- Bottom: shore and center: nature.

- Flora: aeuatic plants and algae: species, distribution, abundance.

- Fauna: species of:riches known by experimental fishing or by informa- tion; other animais: beaver, water birds, etc.

- Temperature: at different place and depth.

- Color, transparency, turbidity of water, pH, Oxvgene.

- In case of water pollution or fish diseases, detailed chemical or biological analysis are done on request by specialists.

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Fishing: history, ouality, intensity obtained from anglers report or experimental fishing.

Manument done before:

Results if any: based on raports made by anglers.

Different uses of water:

Fishing, canoeing, boating. swimming, sailing, skiing, etc.

Other pluqtyat2tops and commentA Fich creel census:

Since the fishing results are the most effective tools in order to do a more effective management the anglers will be asked for cooperating or for doing themselves a complete or partial fish creel cou- sus• We are interested to get the following informations: kind of fish, number, size, hours fished, fishing methods, number of anglers, bait or lures used.

MANAG1;N 1T

When recommended and feasible, waters can be managed in different ways.

1-tcqlçtng with the kind and size of fish that will fit better to the lake.

That is always subject to the quantity of fish that hatcheries can produce.

Poisoning before sbocking: partial or complete.

Législation on a regional or local basic: seasonal limit, size limit, number of fish per day per angler, length of the fishing day, live hait control, boat fishing only.

Protection improved: botter cooperation between angler, conservation asso- ciations and biologists, game wardens.

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IncrenAine qq11111g intemitz: case of small fish only.

Improvement o.f the hahirtet: spawning grounds, beaver dams, shelters, aeration of a lake, fertilisation.

Removal pr pontrql or poame fiees by fishing or trapping or poisoning.

Ley21 oC :the ._ake ppntrolled especially during spawning time.

Contg:q1 of nruabic vegebation.

Centr(21 pf. erosion to nneyent siltatien.

On each subject I can talk a long time. Since I have been asked for entertaining you on rearing ponds I will be pleased to develop that point for you.

REARING PONDS

Most of the five provincial hatcheries produce trout at the fry or fingerling stage. But many times trout of e, larger size are more recommended for a botter management especially when there are predators in a lake, when poisoning is not practicable, where there are competition for food or space, or where we use the put and take method. To produce fishes of a larger size, it, is necessary to rear them in special ponds, called restocking ponds•

Many conservation associations in their effort to cooperate in the management of the waters they sponsor build their own pond or rent some that are nlready built. Thon fry of trout are given free by the government to that conservation association. Under the control of a biolo- gist brout are reared in the restocking ponds till the time they wili reach the best size for the proposed management of a particular lake.

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A good fish pond: is, a tight pond with a solid earth dam and a reasona- ble supply of water. Such a pond should be protected against erosion,

floods, weeds, frost and ice. A good drainage system should be set to allow an occasionai drying of the pond or an easy withdrawal of bottom water

without lowering the top water level.

Location: if we keep in mind the point of view of such a pond, its best location wtll be b7 the lake where the fish will be planted. There will not be any-transportation problem.

If not, the best site will be where all the conditions for a good fish pond will be filled and where control and transport will not be major problems.

TY.DeA of DOnd

- Excavated: the storage is provided by excavating below natural ground level. Fed by surface runoff, or springs, or through a by-pass from a water course.

- Impoundment: the storage is provided by a dam constructed ecross a valley or draw. Fed by surface run-off and springs.

Derivation ponds are botter Chan the one formed by directly damming up a water course. We obtain a botter control on the inlet and outlet of the water. There are legs risk of flood at thaw or after heavy rains.

SitPq of Pqnd

The first thing to do is to select a proper site which involves primari].y three things: (1) suitable topography, (2) acceptable soif type, (3) sufficient water supply.

TeDurapby: Excavated ponds can be adapted to almost topographical con- dition. They are built generally on a flat ground where there is a

sufficient water supply. Impoundment needs essentially favourable topogra- phy. Generally suited to a narrow valley or draw with sharply rising banks on either sicle and a grade of not less than one foot in one hundred feet in the channel itself. The topography will govern the pond dimension and depth.

Soil type: It must contain enough clay to provide a watertight dam and a basin with minimum seepage. If there is not enough watertight soif for the entire dam, it mny be necessary to construct a clay core in the center of the dam. Rocks out-cropping, shale ledges, sand, gravel and limestone areas should be avoided since these areas may lead to excessive seepage.

Water supply: Troub need cool and oxygenated waters. So warm water or poor oxygenated water need a better supply. The best supply is the spring water.

If a pond has a permanent supply of spring water, it is practically certain to support good trout populations in any year.

If fed by runoff water: better at higher elevations and with a greater depth and shade. A five-acre watershed is generally adequate to maintain a one-acre pond. The trout survival is more variable from one sumer to the other becnuse of the summer temperature.

If fed by a by-pass from an adjacent stream and if water condition of the stream is good for the pond we have to be more careful.

Size: 1/4 of an acre to 1 or 2 acres. Smaller: little value for fish production; greater: more difficult to control and present serious complica- tions such ns aquatic weeds and coarse fish control.

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Depth: The deeper, the cooler the bottom water during summer months. Not less than 8 - 10 feet deep as maximum. If good supply of water a year-round, maximum depth may be 8 feet but not less than 6. With run-off water 10 feet at least.

Température. ancj oymn: The critical time for a pond is when we reach the maximum summer water temperature since trout reouirements for oxygen are high and since their is more oxygen dissolved in cooler water.

Prolonged periods of water temperature above 74°F will cause trout to die. Following Mc Crimmon (1961), on a maximum summer temperature, 72°F at a depth of three feet from the surface can be considered the maximum temperature a good trout pond can support; 75-80°F may be reached at surface.

The optimum at the three feet deep level is between 65-70°F. Below that temperature there is a slower growth rate and the largest trout reaches only 8 to 10 inches in length. Bottom is generally cooler.

ConAtnietion pset: Higher for impounding than excavated. The cost of cons- truction of pounds from 1/10th of an acre to a mile in length varies from

$100.00 to $30,000.00. Convenient topography and good soif reduce the cost.

Sbocking: Different species of trout are reared in those ponds. Speckled and rainbow trout give better results than brown trout. Under optimal condi- tions. 400 to 500 yearling or 800 to 1000 fingerlings can be stocked per surface acre of water. As a general rule the larger the fingerlings planted, the ligher the percentage of survival. For better results a pond should never be overstocked even if artificially fed.

Artificial feeding: Artificial feeding can increase, to a certain extent, the rate of trout planting. That increase the yield of fish per acre and improve the income of the pond. Ground meat or 1iver, and

fie

If a pond is classified good enough to receive 500 to 600 large fingerlings under natural conditions he can be stocked with 1000 to 3000 fingerlings when carefully fed with artificia1 good.

Under and over feeding should be avoided to eliminate risks of trout fasting, water pollution and food wastage.

If artificial food is moderately added to natural food the fish so produced are cuite well colored, very lively and rather wild. These

oualitiee have always been claimed to be essential for the restocking or planting trout.

Yield or Percent survival: In direct relation with the good condition, tare, and management of the pond. Survival can fluctuate annually with changes in average summer temperature from one year to the next.

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CEP

Allen, James S. and Alvin C. Lopinot. 196 . Small Lakes and Ponds.

Their Construction and Care. State of Illinois, Dept. of Conservation. Fishery Bulletin No 3, 23 pages.

Ayers, H. D. and A. de Vos. 1956. Farm ponds. Their construction and management. Ontario Department of Agriculture, Bulletin 515, 23 pages.

Eipper, Alfred W. 1960. Managing farm ponds for trout production.

New York State College of Agriculture, Cornell Extension Bulletin 1036, 31 pages.

Mc Crimmon, H. R. 1961. A review of farm trout ponds in Southern Onta- rio. The Canadian Fish Culturist, 29:15-20.

Se.guin, Louis-Roch. 1956. Habits and Rearing Methods of Quebec Trout.

32 pages.

SE5gnin, Louis-Roch. 1961. Artificial Trout Ponds in Quebec. Propagation, 1(8):3-15.