Anglers must ‘step up to the plate’
By admin on Dec 18, 2011 in Uncategorized
A program designed to clean up the banks of the Red River could potentially run all winter if Operation Cleanup gets its way.
Operation Cleanup, which runs from May to the end of October each year, hoists around 40,000 pounds of garbage from the banks of the Red River annually. Program founder Rob Belanger, who also works a natural resource officer in St. Clements, is submitting a proposal to Manitoba Conservation to try and have the program operate throughout the winter months.
In a recent interview with the Journal, Belanger said awareness is greater than ever of the pollution problems that have plagued the Red River during the ice fishing season in recent years.
A regional meeting was held held last winter to gather ideas about how to cut down on scofflaws who litter, abandon their shacks in the spring, or break other rules like having open liquor.
About 200 people attended, and the majority said more enforcement by the RCMP and Manitoba Conservation was needed.
“The message is definitely getting out there,” Belanger says. “Anglers have the power to police themselves and they’re showing that. Everyone’s been working together and that’s great to see.”
Belanger started the program 11 years ago while working as an NRO in Selkirk. He says that during the course of his job, he was confronted with “huge amounts” of trash being left behind by irresponsible boaters, anglers and hikers along the river.
Belanger then decided to take action – approaching the owners of the property that had become a dumping ground to put together a program to help deal with the trash.
But he wants to go even further and see the program run all winter. The Red River in the winter is covered with hundreds of ice fishing shelters.
“It’s always a small group of anglers who ruin it for everyone else,” he says. “It’s a matter of getting the awareness out there and getting to the point where anglers are saying to each other ‘hey buddy, when you’re done fishing don’t forget to take your bucket with you.’”
While there is a diversity of ideas about what to do about littering, abandoned ice shacks, and other ice fishing violations, anglers seem to agree that something needs to change, because they don’t want a few scofflaws to spoil one of Manitoba’s favourite winter activities.
West St. Paul resident Frank Giancola said the garbage cans and porta-potties are a good idea and could be placed at a few main entrances to the prime ice fishing areas, but also worried people would mistreat them.
“I wouldn’t want to see them set on fire or vandalized,” he said.
Andre Desrosiers, a natural resource officer based in Selkirk, has experienced first-hand the garbage piles left by anglers on the Red River during the winter months. Last year there was far less trash left on the ice, but not because people aren’t littering as much.
In 2009 there were around 500 ice shacks set up on the river from Lockport to the mouth of Lake Winnipeg. Last year there were only just over 100.
“It was due mostly to bad ice,” Desrosiers says. “All the media attention played a role too no doubt. But people are still littering.”
Desrosiers said banning ice shacks is still an option if things get bad enough, but it’s an option the province doesn’t want to use as a weapon in its arsenal.
“One of the things we were told is that anglers want more enforcement out there. So that’s what we’re doing. We don’t want to have to force anyone’s hand. But people have to step up to the plate and be each other’s keeper.”
Desrosiers says more and more anglers are discovering Lake Winnipeg as an ice fishing destination, coming up from the northern U.S. And that means with more anglers expected to be out on the ice, the littering problem becomes an issue for everyone.
“It’s about everyone doing their part,” he adds.
And doing their part many anglers are. As a response to the issue, the Manitoba Ice Fishing Association was formed last year and is actively recruiting new members and encourages anyone interested to join them at their next general meeting on Nov. 19 at 2 p.m. at the Petersfield Hotel.
Association chairman Arnold Weidl says the group has been very successful in getting the word out, and is making itself publicly visible by working with the province and other organizations to ensure the message is received.
“The mindset is totally changing,” Weidl says. “There’s a lot of work to be done, but this has really snowballed.”
The association has a number of raffles coming up and is doing everything it can, including placing trash bins out on the ice, to ensure anglers get the message about littering.
“We’re doing a massive amount of work and it’s definitely having an effect,” Weidl says.
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