A couple weeks back, I was down on the docks on the Mattagami River in Timmins for a day of fishing. During the day, a young lady named Sharon Parcey came down to fish off the docks.
Sharon asked Al Marin and myself what kind of fish we were catching. We told her Walleye, Brown Bulls, Rock Bass, Perch and Sturgeon.
Since she had never caught a Sturgeon before, Sharon said that it would nice to catch one. Well, it didn't take long before her rod doubled over with a Sturgeon.
Al then went over to her dock to help coach her on how to fight it. After a good fifteen-minute fight, l reached in and landed it for her. Al then took a couple of quick pictures of her holding her first Sturgeon before releasing it.
We asked her how it felt reeling in her first Sturgeon, to which she replied: “Look, I'm still shaking and can hardly breath. My arms are sore after that battle.”
When I turned to go back to the dock I was fishing off, I noticed a gentleman standing there with an expression on his face like a cat that just swallowed a canary.
I introduced myself and asked what was the look all about. Larry told me that he was part of Lake Sturgeon Transplanting Team which introduced them back into the Mattagami River in 2002 and he was excited in seeing one caught.
After a brief conversation with Larry, I was intrigued with what he was telling me so I asked if he would like to sit down with me one night to be featured in my outdoor column.
Larry agreed, and a week later we meet up for coffee.
During the interview, I learned Larry was born in Hearst, Ont. but lived in Fauquier on the Groundhog River until he was about 25 years old.
In 1976, Larry moved to Timmins.
Larry stated that his interest in Lake Sturgeon stemmed from being raised in close contact with Lake Sturgeon in his younger years.
It wasn't until 1994 when he led a family group to observe the peak of a Sturgeon spawn on the Groundhog River. It was such a powerful event for him that he just had to share it with others.
After the spawn observation back in ’94, he spoke with the Ministry about it.
Larry then followed an MNRF-driven study on the Lake Sturgeon. Every year after the initial spawn site discovery, Larry and a group from La Ronde Cultural Centre started guiding students from Ecole Secondaire Theriault to see the Lake Sturgeon spawn on the Groundhog.
Ministry representatives wanted to try and reestablish Lake Sturgeon in the Mattagami River between the Wawaitin and Sandy Fall dams.
Although the Timmins Fur Council was putting pressure on MNR to tackle this major enterprise, the MNRF wanted the Club Navigateur to initiate and participate in the transfer of adult sturgeon as the MNRF were hesitant with only going with Timmins Fur Council.
After talks between members, Larry decided to facilitate the move and the Timmins Fur Council joined forces with Club Navigateur.
I asked Larry the reason behind transplanting Lake Sturgeon back into the Mattagami River.
Larry said the Ministry was feeding him information on reports of a game warden back in the early days observing Sturgeon spawning at Wawaitin Falls around the time when the first dam and generating station was built.
Near 50 years of log drives was likely the key to the demise and drastic drop in Lake Sturgeon to the point of total loss of breeding adults.
According to the Ministry, until 2009 and for the past 40 years there had not been any Sturgeon angled between Sandy Falls and Wawaitin Dams.
When asked, in his opinion, what measures he felt would help prevent this transplanting from disappearing, Larry said since the first juvenile captures back in 2007 and the anglers catching Sturgeon at the public launch, an extensive scientific study followed.
This adult transfer of Lake Sturgeon was a first in the province and beyond, so MNRF wanted to learn more about what happened.
Although we now have positive population resurgence, initial scientific results show that there are only a few breeding adults.
There is possibly not enough genetic diversity, meaning the population are too closely related, therefore the need to bring in adults from another location could help keep a healthy population for years to come.
Because the first successful spawn was likely back in 2006 and if you add about 20 yrs for the juveniles to mature, we would be looking at 2026 for initial transfer offspring females to spawn.
An effort to reinforce the resurgence must be driven by the recent scientific study recommendations, government agencies and people who care about the success of the 2002 reintroduction effort.
As an outdoorsman, I asked Larry what he would like to see happen to protect the Lake Sturgeon.
“Much has been done to protect and preserve healthy sturgeon population to this day. I feel confident that regulation changes legislated for our region and the province will be sufficient and that all we have to do now is keep our rivers clean, and like I’ve said many times, ‘lets let nature take its course’.”
“Please leave the river banks treed if possible. Since 2002, I have navigated this river more frequently. I see too many land owners invading its river bank and drastically changing its natural environment. This also must stop. We need to respect this river not just for its flowing waters, but also for the nearly invisible habitat that support life in abundance.”
“We also need to create an awareness with our youth for this invisible nature below the surface of our rivers. They are the ones that will support sustainability and survival of species.”
Larry goes on to say that industries can help protect the Lake Sturgeon populations in Ontario by stopping the construction of new dams.
Upgrade all existing and even convert existing reservoir dams to a generating complex. But most important, only if it’s necessary to increase hydro electric energy production.
We now have the technology to keep our waters clean. If industry wants to take more of our resources, they must clean their effluent discharges not to mention cottage owners.
In the end we need more new blood that will champion concern and care for our environment and here I’m not just talking about government agency employees but all of us out there.
When asked who were some of the biggest to help in the history of the Lake Sturgeon in Northeastern Ontario Larry replied: “For me, I must say that it’s been a common effort of both from the dedicated Ministry of Natural Resources personnel and local citizens that have realized the need to be vigilant and never forget that a species that has survived over 135 million years without any physiological change must not disappear in just a few human generations.”
We have nearly done it also for land creatures, lets not forget the inland freshwater habitat.
I would like to thank Larry Robichaud for taking the time from his busy schedule to sit down with me, not only for this interview, but also for his participation in Lake Sturgeon studies and management for 20 years.
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