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Feb 20 18

Municipality of Port Hope

56 Queen Street
Port Hope, ON
L1A 3Z9

REPORT TO: Parks, Recreation and Culture Committee

FROM: Jim McCormack, Director of Parks, Recreation and Culture

Kevin Narraway, Marketing Manager

SUBJECT: Salmon Fishing Report

DATE: February 6, 2018

RECOMMENDATION:
Receive for information purposes.

BACKGROUND:
A staff report was presented to Council in February 2017 outlining a number of options
and initiatives in order to continue to address the salmon fishing issues that have
occurred in 2017. The items Council supported included:
• Continue with dedicated and enhanced enforcement through cooperation with
the Port Hope Police Service (PHPS) and the Ministry of Natural Resources and
Forestry (MNRF);
• Develop and implement a By-Law prohibiting night fishing from August 15 to
September 30 between the hours of 8pm and 6am from the Molson Street Bridge
to the Robertson Street Bridge;
As well, staff identified additional areas of focus with respect to the Fall fishing season
and this included:
• Conduct survey of anglers/visitors to determine economic impacts;
• Continue to support initiatives to educate the public and anglers on regulations,
ethics of fishing and the natural elements of fish species and migration;
• Investigate marketing and promotional initiatives related to the fishing season;

Overall observations by staff with feedback from residents, visitors and our partners
indicate a significant improvement over last year and previous years. These
observations include:

• Significant decline in garbage in containers and along the river;

• Less fish waste in the fish cleaning station;
• Reduction in fishing related charges;
• The Night Fishing Ban resulted in little to no activity along the river at night time;
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Report to COW - February 20, 2017
 • Less congestion along river banks;
• Increased tourism activities;
• Improvements to fish odours.

The enforcement results are identified below for both the PHPS and the MNRF.

Port Hope Police Service

2017 2016 Difference
Hours Dedicated Patrol 115 151 -36
Fishing Charges 48 68 -20
Alcohol Charges 4 27 -23
By-Law Cautions/Charges 15 3 +12
Calls regarding Fishing 58 115 -57

MNRF
2017 2016 Difference
Hours Dedicated Patrol 227 437 -210
Fishing Charges 67 63 +4
Warnings 24 48 -24

Staff consulted with the PHPS regarding this year’s enforcement campaign and the
following feedback has been provided.

- PHPS believe the program is working and is effective. Need to continue to

maintain the program in order to continue to address issues;
- Officers have noted that the majority of anglers were in compliance which is an
improvement from previous year and probably the reason for less charges being
laid; this even with plain clothes patrolling;
- Relationship with the MNRF is strong and stronger than it was 2 years ago;
Officers have developed relationships on both sides and now contact each other
directly when required, which has improved efficiency;
- Officers take pride in the work they are doing knowing it is improving the overall
image of the community;
- There appeared to be fewer anglers in 2017. This may be as a result of the
enhanced enforcement or due to the late salmon run.
- Less liquor infractions which is encouraging;
- The night fishing ban is working. Police believe this deterrent is helping the
overall problems experienced in the past.
- Recommend to continue to meet with partners on a regular basis and maintain
the program we have in place.

In addition, educational components were a focus in 2017 through working with the
MNRF and the OFAH. The MNRF set up their educational trailer in Rotary Park the
weekend of September 15th and provided staff to answer questions posed by residents
and visitors. The educational trailer provides opportunities to gain a better
understanding of the natural life cycle of the salmon (along with other species) and
further promotes the regulations for fishing specifically on the Ganaraska River.

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Report to COW - February 20, 2017
MNRF staff reported this to be a positive program and appreciated the opportunity to
interact with residents and visitors.

The OFAH produced 3 educational video segments that were shared on social media
and on their television program Angler and Hunter Television. The segments featured
the host of this program, Mike Miller. The OFAH is working with our Marketing
Department to determine the best methods to survey anglers visiting our community. As
well, they intend on partnering with the MNRF at their educational trailer in 2018.

Tourism Impacts

The following items reflect the approach taken in 2017 from a Tourism and Marketing
perspective.

• The fish migrations (especially the Fall migration) attracts thousands of

visitors to both downtown Port Hope and the fish ladder.
• Recent forays into search engine marketing – in Mandarin- effectively
doubled the web traffic for visitporthope.ca. Fish migrations were a
favoured topic.
• The Port Hope app was well received and provided visitors with
information on the fish, the community and is an effort to move traffic
along the river from the fish ladder to downtown.
• RT08 provided funding to create maps along the river to point out places
of interest and the location of the fish ladder.
• Restaurants reported higher and growing volumes of visitors to their
businesses.
• Marketing and Tourism will continue to connect with this growth audience
and will put in place tools and tactics to better communicate with Mandarin
speaking visitors advising preferred locations to park, find public
washrooms and where to eat and shop.
• The Respect the River campaign was broadly appreciated by visitors and
residents and this will be promoted again in 2018.
• OFAH and the Municipality collaborated to create three public service
social media videos and these were among the most watched videos on
social media.
• Short videos depicting salmon swimming and jumping in the river continue
to be the most popular and shared social media videos promoted by
Marketing and Tourism.
• TCS students conducted weekend surveys of visitors along the river.
Some highlights include:
-93% of visitors said they were just “watching the fish”. 7% identified as
fishing.
-17% said they stayed overnight in Port Hope;
-67% said they ate in a Port Hope restaurant;
-51% said they spent $1 to $100 in Port Hope;
-12% said they spent $100 to $200 in Port Hope;

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Report to COW - February 20, 2017
Marketing and PRC will continue to work with our partners to further enhance the
programs implemented to date. This includes additional surveys targeting anglers to
determine economic impacts to the community from an angling perspective.

RESOURCE IMPLICATIONS:
There are no budget implications.

CONCLUSION:
The enhanced enforcement program has proven effective and we continue to see a
decline in the poor behaviors of some anglers. The PHPS and MNRF have developed a
strong working relationship and both agencies recommend continuing with the
enhanced enforcement program. Staff will continue to meet on a regular basis with our
partners to ensure the programs implemented to date remain effective.

Respectfully submitted,
Original signed by:

Jim McCormack, RRFA Kevin Narraway

Director Marketing Manager

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Report to COW - February 20, 2017