Toronto

'Immoral' salmon milking in Toronto rivers decried by anglers, park users

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Some fishermen killing migratory female salmon to harvest their eggs for bait

Salmon going upstream in the Humber River have natal homing, which means they instinctively return to the place where they were born to breed. (Karin Chykaliuk)

Park users and some anglers and conservationists in Toronto are calling on the province to do more to stop the "immoral" practice sometimes called salmon milking — killing a migratory female salmon to harvest her eggs and dumping the carcass on the riverbank.

The result can be waterfront trails and parks littered with the carcasses of dead salmon, left to rot by anglers who only desired the salmon roe to use as bait or to eat.

"The smell of dead fish is the first thing you notice when you walk into Etienne Brule Park," Janieta Eyre said in an email to CBC Toronto. The park straddles the Humber River near Old Mill Road in west-end Toronto.

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"When you look, there's dead salmon everywhere. There's just dead fish everywhere. It was horrible."

Every year starting in August, thousands of Pacific salmon swim into the rivers and creeks that flow into Lake Ontario to spawn upstream. In Toronto, the Humber and Don rivers see significant annual runs that include coho and chinook salmon that are stocked into the lake by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

Dead salmon litter the riverbank at Humber Bay Park. (Adrian Cheung/CBC)

The salmon run in the Greater Toronto Area is a highlight for many anglers. On a weekend during peak run times, the banks of local rivers are packed with fishermen looking for a chance to catch a monster salmon.

Most anglers know that one thing hungry salmon love to eat are the eggs of other fish, especially other salmonids and trout. That's why some fishermen will kill a spawning female salmon to obtain the roe, despite a host of artificial bait substitutes available on the market.

While salmon milking is not illegal under provincial rules, fishermen are supposed to keep the entire fish for their personal use. But the province's Guide to Eating Fish in Ontario points out that salmon from Lake Ontario can contain contaminants like mercury and PCBs, and the Pacific salmon populations are maintained as sport fisheries only.

Because fish of general breeding size are considered non-consumable, the flesh can be thrown away.

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"It allows for a massive abuse of resources and wildlife," said longtime fisherman Rob Cesta, owner of Drift Outfitters.

Longtime fisherman Rob Cesta, owner of Drift Outfitters, calls the practice of salmon milking 'immoral.' (Grant Linton/CBC News)

'It is legal, but it is immoral'

Coho and chinook are "terminal spawners," meaning they will die after spawning for the first time. So the presence of dead and decaying salmon in the fall is not unusual. But some anglers and conservationists want the province and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority to step up enforcement to prevent the deaths of salmon that would otherwise have a chance to breed.

"It is legal but it is immoral. The survival rate of a fish that has been milked ... is fairly low. They are often out of water for minutes at a time," said Cesta.

According to Cesta, the eight or so conservation officers enforcing fishing regulations in the Greater Toronto Area are not nearly enough.

"It's to a point that it's done openly," Cesta said. "The [ministry] has very little in terms of resources to combat the issue. So it happens over and over again with no one able to take on the issue."

A representative for Ontario's Ministry of Natural Resources said the ministry is aware of the salmon milking and has stepped up patrols by conservation officers. The Toronto Police Service is also aware, and officers are charging people for trespassing and littering when warranted.

Many salmon die naturally and decay in the water or on the riverbank. A telltale sign of a salmon that's been killed illegally for its roe is a long slit along the belly of an intact carcass left on shore. (CBC)

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Angler Kris Gohn is new to salmon fishing. He said Tuesday that while he has heard of milking, he has never seen it happen on the banks of the Humber.

"You're taking away from future generations when you milk the fish," Gohn said. "It's a moral thing. But you're probably not going to stop it until you get full representation [from the ministry] on the rivers."

Cesta would like the ministry to implement mandatory catch-and-release seasons on the rivers. But at the very least, better signage warning against milking is warranted, he said.

"It's not the best solution … but it really is a starting point."

With files from Adrian Cheung