swick
06-24-2005, 05:00 PM
Hi All:
Having just returned from LOTW, and witnessing first hand the intense increase in gill-netting efforts by at least some in the First Nations, it got me thinking about how we in the States can have any influence on the issue. After all, it is a Canadian resource the use of which is governed by Canadian law made by Canadian lawmakers who are put into office by Canadian voters. We are just invited guests, right?
But then again, many of us from the States go to LOTW and stay at resorts and camps, and spend lots of money doing so. In fact, I did some checking and found a 2003 Economic Impact Study commissioned by the NorthWestern Ontario Tourism Association (NWOTA) that indicates that tourism in the Lake of the Woods Area is almost entirely related to overnight sport-fishing tourists, and this accounts for close to $100 million dollars annually in economic activity ($98 million in the 2001 survey data year); 3,022 full time jobs; and $41 million in Federal, Provincial, and Municipal taxes. Additionally, the study indicates that almost 95% of the sportfishing tourists are from the U.S. Here is a link to the study: http://www.nwota.com/docs/22108-Final-Report-Lake-of-Woods.pdf
So, we are pretty important to the people in the Lake of the Woods area from economic standpoint - we are not just guests - we are PAYING GUESTS. And if they want us to keep coming back as paying guests, they better have a decent fishery. While the LOTW is beautiful, if the fishing sucks, I'll go spend my money elsewhere.
As such, we need to get into contact with the camps and resort owners, guides, baishops, other business owners, and the associations that represent them, and let them know that we are concerned, and that if the fishery on LOTW is harmed due to overharvest by gill-netting, we are likly going to have to go elsewhere to spend our sport-fishing dollars.
Here are the e-mail addresses for a couple of tourism associations that might be good places to start - let 'em know we are concerned, and give them our support: the NorthWestern Ontario Tourism Association = info@nwota.com and the Northern Ontario Tourist Ourfitters Association = info@noto.net
Having just returned from LOTW, and witnessing first hand the intense increase in gill-netting efforts by at least some in the First Nations, it got me thinking about how we in the States can have any influence on the issue. After all, it is a Canadian resource the use of which is governed by Canadian law made by Canadian lawmakers who are put into office by Canadian voters. We are just invited guests, right?
But then again, many of us from the States go to LOTW and stay at resorts and camps, and spend lots of money doing so. In fact, I did some checking and found a 2003 Economic Impact Study commissioned by the NorthWestern Ontario Tourism Association (NWOTA) that indicates that tourism in the Lake of the Woods Area is almost entirely related to overnight sport-fishing tourists, and this accounts for close to $100 million dollars annually in economic activity ($98 million in the 2001 survey data year); 3,022 full time jobs; and $41 million in Federal, Provincial, and Municipal taxes. Additionally, the study indicates that almost 95% of the sportfishing tourists are from the U.S. Here is a link to the study: http://www.nwota.com/docs/22108-Final-Report-Lake-of-Woods.pdf
So, we are pretty important to the people in the Lake of the Woods area from economic standpoint - we are not just guests - we are PAYING GUESTS. And if they want us to keep coming back as paying guests, they better have a decent fishery. While the LOTW is beautiful, if the fishing sucks, I'll go spend my money elsewhere.
As such, we need to get into contact with the camps and resort owners, guides, baishops, other business owners, and the associations that represent them, and let them know that we are concerned, and that if the fishery on LOTW is harmed due to overharvest by gill-netting, we are likly going to have to go elsewhere to spend our sport-fishing dollars.
Here are the e-mail addresses for a couple of tourism associations that might be good places to start - let 'em know we are concerned, and give them our support: the NorthWestern Ontario Tourism Association = info@nwota.com and the Northern Ontario Tourist Ourfitters Association = info@noto.net