The crown jewel of the research fleet is Ontario Explorer, a purpose-built 20 metre vessel with a 112 tonne displacement and seven metre beam, featuring the latest navigation and safety gear, delivered in 2010 at a cost of $2.5 million. Far from luxurious, it gives scientists a safe, reliable, and comfortable work platform including a galley and washroom - something lacking in the old converted cramped fishing boats it replaces. The boat carries a full complement of life jackets, immersion suits, and two life rafts, along with a Zodiac to tow them to safety. There are two Electronic Position Indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRB), a satellite phone, and an infrared camera to help locate a person overboard in the night. When all
else fails, there are traditional navigation aids - a clock, magnetic compass, and a bell. The wooden ship’s wheel is another nod to tradition, which Vessel Master Jon Chicoine noted he prefers to stainless steel, as he proudly demonstrated the Furuno NavNet 3D navigation system. Below deck, there is space to hold two large stainless steel tanks used for fish stocking, along with trawls and gill net lifters. Every year the ministry stocks approximately 2.5 million fish into Lake Ontario, including up to 500,000 lake trout. Colin explained, “Our goal is to restore the lake trout species lost in the late 1950s due to the sudden abundance of sea lamprey which
is a predatory, parasitic, jawless fish. It’s an invasive species in the lake, much like a leech.” A binational effort to control sea lamprey is ongoing, costing millions of dollars. A truckload of lake trout yearlings arrives at the Glenora dock from the MNR’s Harwood Fish Culture Station on Rice Lake. Thousands are piped into the stainless steel tanks in the hold of the Ontario Explorer. At a speed of eight knots, it takes three hours to get to Main Duck Island - one spot where the fish are released. The Glenora Fisheries Station is renowned in the scientific community because of the quality and quantity of data gathered for well over 50 years. Colin explained they look
“Our goal is to restore the lake trout species lost in the late 1950s due to the sudden abundance of sea lamprey which is a predatory, parasitic, jawless fish.”
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COUNTY & QUINTE LIVING SUMMER 2015