Long time campers, who spend their summers at Wiarton’s waterfront park, have honoured the Bruce Peninsula Sportsmen’s Association (BPSA) for its successful fish stocking program.
For the second year the Bluewater Park campers passed the hat and this year came up with more than a thousand dollars to support the club’s community conservation efforts.
Many Bluewater Park campers have vacationed at the Wiarton facility for over 30-years and have enjoyed fishing for rainbow and brown trout, thanks to the work of BPSA volunteers. Since the sixties the 250 member club has been stocking fish for the sports fishery as part of what’s referred to as a “put and take” recreational fishery. Our club stocks the fish. You catch them. Over the years we have planted more than 4-million fish in different sections of Georgian Bay mostly at Colpoy’s Creek and Gleason Brook.
BPSA operates under provincial licenses as part of the 40 hatchery Ontario Community Hatchery Program (CHP). We receive partial funding of our hatchery operation from the CHP. Other hatchery costs are covered by club membership dues, donations and by fund raising projects such as our annual BPSA Pork and Beef Barbecue.
BPSA President Jim Martell and hatchery manager Ray Marklevitz thanked the Bluewater Park campers for their generous donation. Martell said, “We are very grateful, very appreciative. This will be well used and will allow us to carry on with our community conservation work. Our members appreciate this donation. It is a sign that we are making a difference. Our hatchery and our invasive plant awareness projects are examples of the BPSA commitment to conservation.”
Marklevitz said the generous donation will help pay for improvements that should further enhance the survival rate of fish we stock.
An Ontario Cabinet Minister recently chose BPSA as the location of his first official ministerial visit.
After a two-hour tour of the BPSA hatchery, and discussion with club executive members, the new Ontario Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry congratulated BPSA for its many years of conservation efforts saying “keep up the good work.” The Hon. Jeff Yurek said “you folks are doing great things…….you should be proud of your 40 years of helping your community.”
