Posession limits and fishing different bodies of water

[MuskieBait]

(02-26-2014 12:28 PM)tweedwolfscream Wrote:  I'd also disagree that it's impossible to eat 6 whitefish in a month without exceeding the MOE's recommendations, see for example their monthly consumption advisories for Gull Lake in Haliburton... http://files.ontariogovernment.ca/moe_ma...17847.html But that's a whole other discussion In any case, some fish have much lower limits, eg lake trout on a conservation license, so keeping your limit might happen every time you want to eat your catch at all.

If you share a whitefish in a family meal (assumes 2 adults and 2 children), it is could be possible to consume 6 whitefish within limits...with the caveat of fish size.

If, like me as a single individual, you consume 6 whitefish on your own in a month (even from Gull Lake), you do exceed the consumption limits.

For example, typical Haliburton whitefish have an average size of 1.5-2lbs. After dressing (filleted and skinned), you may retain 40-50% of that body weight. For ease of argument aske, I'll say 0.75lb (or 12oz) of flesh is retained from an average Haliburton whitefish.

According to the consumption guide, a meal is considered as an 8oz portion of filleted and skinned flesh from the dorsal portion of the fish (ie. back meat). Since you are likely to consume meat other than the dorsal portions as well (you do eat the tail and the meat around the rib cage, as well as just behind the belly), the consumption limits decreases due to the higher levels of contaminant in the fattier non-dorsal meat. That factor should be considered also.

If 6 whitefish, each average 1.5lbs, are retained and consumed by one individual throughout the month, such individual would have consumed 4.5lbs (or 72oz) of dressed whitefish. That equates to 9 allowable portions, which puts the individual over the limit. Again, it is not likely that you would simply consume the dorsal meat and not meat from other areas.

I've also determined in the past that, as a single person, I can only consume 1 whitefish per month from Lake Simcoe, since the average size whitefish I used to catch were 24" (actually all the whitefish I used to catch, with the odd exception, were between 23-24" in size). A 24" whitefish is around 4lbs. After dressing you may retain about 2lbs of meat, which is essentially 4 portions. Lake Simcoe whitefish has a limit of 4 meals per month at 24"...so really, if you keep 1 whitefish each weekend, and you consume said whitefish each weekend as an individual, you are way over limit. I see people keeping their sport limit of 2 whitefish each weekend and wonder if they had actually done the math...even if they share the catch with a family of 4.

I have done the math since I used to limit out on Lake Simcoe whitefish pretty consistently a few years ago...and I started to question if it was that safe eat whitefish every weekend and if I should be keeping my conservation limit of 1 whitefish each trip. After figuring it out, I started sharing my whitefish meals with my roommate to lessen on my contamination load