New Site MNR

[tweedwolfscream]

Yeah, I've been aware of Fish ON-Line for a long time. One problem I have with it is inaccuriacies. I mean I wouldn't expect something like that to include every species in every lake, but the false positives are concerning. For example it shows smallies in Lake Louisa, a well-documented bass-free lake in Algonquin.

I also agree with OldTimer that it would be a lot more useful if it included river locations. I was talking with an MNR guy the other day about it and he said they don't include rivers because there isn't a universally-accepted sampling protocol for rivers. But he also said that the species data comes from a variety of sources including third parties, in fact that's part of the reason for some inaccuracies, so I don't understand how the lack of a formalized scientific sampling protocol would be such an issue. And in fact, they do take fish samples from rivers, for the MOE's consumption advisories.

In fact I often use the MOE's consumption advisories to reseach species availability, see the interactive online version at http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/environment/en/.../index.htm . It's not as comprehensive as Fish ON-Line in terms of either species or lakes included, but it does include a lot of river locations and sections of Great Lakes, you can be sure that the fish they've sampled actually exist, you get some info about the sizes of the fish in a particular water body, and of course there's the intended purpose of the advisories, showing you how safe the fish are to eat according to their size, species and location.