Toronto Sportsmen’s Show and O.F.A.H. announce partnership to save the Ringwood Hatchery

OFAH File: 842/420H
September 15, 2006

For Immediate Release

Toronto Sportsmen’s Show and O.F.A.H. announce partnership to save the Ringwood Hatchery

The Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters could soon be in charge of the operation of the Ringwood Fish Culture Station – a major fish hatchery near Stouffville that was scheduled to be mothballed due to a severe lack of provincial funding. The leasing of Ringwood is pending review by the Ontario Reality Corporation and the O.F.A.H. and the Ministry of Natural Resources are optimistic that an agreement will be signed very shortly.

Together with the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show and the Ringwood Hatchery’s new host club, Metro East Anglers, the O.F.A.H. and its many partners will be directly responsible for stocking millions of fish into Lake Ontario’s $140 million dollar recreational fishery over the next several years. This incredible team commitment once again reaffirms how far volunteers and non profit groups, including the O.F.A.H. and Toronto Sportsmen’s Show, will go to support recreational fishing in Ontario. In the weeks ahead, other major partners including Shimano, Pizza Pizza and Cannon Downriggers will be officially announced.

Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director, said, “With all the successful conservation programs we currently support, the O.F.A.H. certainly did not want to take on the government’s responsibility of stocking Chinook salmon in Lake Ontario. However, O.F.A.H. members refused to sit idly by when there was an opportunity to partner with our friends from the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show. We’re simply doing what is right for the future of recreational fishing.”

Reader explained that a signed agreement is imminent and will come after months of discussions between the O.F.A.H. and Ministry of Natural Resources in an effort to keep Ringwood running as a Ministry program. “As the Federation sees it, provincial fish stocking programs must always remain a core business of the M.N.R.,” said Reader.

Walter Oster, Chair of the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show said, “We applaud the O.F.A.H. for putting together a plan to save the Ringwood hatchery and to maximize fish production in this facility. The Toronto Sportsmen’s Show looks forward to our growing relationship with the O.F.A.H, and we are pleased to be involved in this major project that has so many benefits for conservation, anglers and the local economy.”

An official Ringwood Fish Hatchery partnership announcement will take place Saturday, September 16 at 1:00 pm, during the awards ceremony of the Great Ontario Salmon Derby at J.C. Saddington Park, Front Street South, in Port Credit.

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