Fall boaters are being asked to take some precaution in the Mattagami River next week. The MNR is going to have nets set-up as part of their Sturgeon Restoration Project. The project is only in Ontario, and this is the first successful try to relocate adult Sturgeon into a natural lake by taking them from one area to another. The fish are then left to spawn naturally. Other provinces and states have tried to move adult lake Sturgeon, but couldn’t successfully repopulate the fish.
Since 2002, 52 adult lake Sturgeon were moved from the Little Long Generating Station to the Sandy Falls Dam area. Since then, they have been found in over 300 km of the Mattagami.
The nets are going up on Monday and will be in the water until October 9th. The MNR says they are clearly marked, and are asking boaters to not drive through them or tamper with the equipment.