Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Aug 19/05) - Dozens of biologists, fisheries managers, and aboriginal community representatives are in Yellowknife this week for the second North American symposium on lake trout.

Ron Allen, area director for the department of Fisheries and Oceans, said it was only fitting that the symposium be held in Yellowknife, being that some of the best lake trout fishing in the world can be found on Great Slave Lake.

The first symposium was held in Whitehorse in 2002.

"Lake trout is quite often considered the fish for sportsmen," said Allen.

"It's also on the top of the food chain. So it's very economically and culturally important for this part of the world."

More than 130 participants - mainly fisheries biologists and managers - discussed stock management, effects of climate change on trout populations, and fishing pressure during the four-day event at the Explorer Hotel, Aug. 16-19.

Allen said one thing that came up at the symposium was the increase in range of lake trout on Great Slave Lake.

"They're finding lake trout in parts of the lake they haven't seen in a number of years - in numbers and size," said Allen. He said the increase appears due to Great Slave Lake's dwindling commercial fishery, which peaked 40 years ago. Last summer, there were about 75-80 people fishing on the lake.

Diane Giroux, representing the Great Slave Lake advisory committee, said there is concern about the increasing number of unmonitored, individual sports fishing boats.

She said the use of global positioning systems makes it easier for anglers to explore areas where they normally wouldn't venture without a guide. "We have more and more people going out onto the water who are not stopping in the communities and being monitored," said Giroux.

Best place to fish

Speaking to the symposium, Western Arctic MP Ethel Blondin-Andrew said the increased activity makes careful monitoring of the fishery important.

"People come from around the globe to discover for themselves what people from this territory have known for years - that there is simply no better place to fish for lake trout," said Blondin-Andrew.

"But all this attention makes managing this resource in a sustainable way an absolute necessity."