No fishing on Toronto Harbourfront?

Over the last few weeks while fishing down at the harbourfront I have been approached by various rent a cops and security and told that "fishing is not allowed here" while I am fishing on public property. (To be fair they usually go away if you tell them that yes it is because I am on public property). Anyway, I decided to check with the MNR.....I contacted Wil Wegman at the MNR and he replied saying that he had been contacted by staff at the Harbourfront Centre recently, also asking about fishing bylaws on the harbourfront.

This was Wil's official reply to the harbourfront centre and also to me:

----------------------------------

“I can only answer from an MNR provincial perspective and am not able to offer definitive answers on Toronto’s fishing bylaws – if indeed there are any. Best to contact the City by-law dep’t for that specifically. Anyway, from our perspective and legislation, we have no objection to fishing within the inner harbour as long as it is done in accordance with our regulations (eg.. by licenced anglers, following rules and regs- such as those outlined in the Summary of the Recreational Fishing Regulations). Additionally, I am aware that in order to use a boat to fish here, you do require a Toronto harbor Licence. I am involved here with promoting fishing opportunities in our district- and to a great extent within Toronto. I am curious about the nature/reason for your question and would be interested to hear what you hear back from folks within the City of Toronto By-law dep’t."


---------------------------------

Now that the city bylaws had been referenced, I trawled through the city bylaw online archive and while there is a considerable amount of text on restricting the amount of lake ontario fish you should consume, the only reference I can find to restricting fishing is related to city parks and areas that have specifc no fishing signs posted by the council that reference bylaw 608-38.

§ 608-38. Fishing.
While in a park:
A. No person shall fish in an area posted to prohibit fishing;
B. No person shall store or leave any lures, bait, hooks, lines, poles or other equipment in the
park in a location or manner that may injure other persons or wildlife; and
C. All permitted fishing must be carried out in compliance with all Ministry of Natural
Resources Rules and Regulations.

I guess Harbourfront centre could petition the council and request a no fishing section on their dock? But I'm not sure how the council would justify it, as I also found a useful description of the work recently undertaken at the new HTO park behind the EMS station on the waterfront, and specific mention of fishing.

------------------------------

HTO Park Fish Habitat:
Improvements have been made to the Peter Street Slip, to develop a larger, more diverse fish population, and to enhance recreation fishing. Improvements include contouring the lake bed to varying depths and adding materials and elements to provide habitat and nesting opportunities for fish. Approximate Cost: $60,000.00.

In general there is also positive reference to recreational fishing in the Don valley and Central Waterfront Project to "significantly improve water quality in the Don River and Central Waterfront. Enhance recreational uses of the waterfront, such as swimming, boating, and fishing."

----------------------------

If you are on private property then rent a cop security can ask you to leave without reason. If it's public property and there is not a Toronto council no fishing sign (presumably referencing bylaw 608-38), then fishing is allowed. This can clearly be seen at the marinas for example, where slips are gated with private property signs and no fishing signs are posted on the dock ends, but the waterfront harbour walls are not private and no signs are posted. This may change as Mayor Miller was very pro-fishing and pro-redeveloping the Don River mouth into wetlands, and I dont know where Mayor Ford stands.

So fish on.... while you still can.

Awesome reporting. I have never seen any NO FISHING signs. I'd like to know what the rent-a-cop thinks they are doing there in the first place. They were hired to protect private property, we have real cops to protect public property, they (rent-a-cop) have clearly over stepped their bounds.

As with anything tho, people with money can pull strings. Get enough bad anglers leaving junk or even dead fish and then there will be by-laws against fishing there. That's a given. Just look at Lake Simcoe. One dock I used to go fish off changed to a NO FISHING zone by the people living near the dock. The few ruin it for all others.

As with many private marinas, its private property. The only way to approach them to fish the docks and under boats, is if you are on your own boat.

Thanks for the great report.

MNR seem to be interested in how this develops, I said that I would keep them informed of any changes.

Check this out......

Toronto Port Authority has a blanket ban on ALL shore fishing, and their jurisdiction runs from West of the humber to east of Ashbridges park to the eastern beaches and includes all of the Toronto Islands....!

TORONTO PORT AUTHORITY PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES

Fishing
24.No person shall fish from shoreline unless in an authorized area designated by posted signs.





I'm guessing this will have to get sorted out somehow...... City council is putting in fish habitats and renting fishing gear on Centre island while the Port Authority has a no fishing policy.....crazy!

Wow thats quite the essay you wrote their in your first post. lol

Thats politics for ya, a few people involved in politics with their own agendas create a by-law that will afftect thousands of anglers. My advice is if you ever meet someone involved in pushing that bylaw through tell them to go F themselves and let them know that you will be fishing there anyways. After all its just a bylaw and im guessing the ticket will be affordable if you were to ever get a ticket in the first place.

AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME REPORT (Research)!

Thank you MIKE!
Good to get the FACTS (Although it seems the Port Authority is confused)

I plan on continueing to enjoy my fishing downtown.
Acting civil, being nice.... educating the public.

*SMILES*

THANK YOU! great info

That's dated June 2000, I wonder what got a bee in their bonnet to start enforcing that ridiculous (and illegal) by-law.

It's becoming very common all along Lake O for towns to just arbitrarily ban fishing from town owned & controlled areas (i.e. lower Bronte), ofcourse not bothering to find out that it contravenes both longstanding federal AND provincial regulations.

Dilligaf0220 said:

That's dated June 2000, I wonder what got a bee in their bonnet to start enforcing that ridiculous (and illegal) by-law.

It's becoming very common all along Lake O for towns to just arbitrarily ban fishing from town owned & controlled areas (i.e. lower Bronte), ofcourse not bothering to find out that it contravenes both longstanding federal AND provincial regulations.

Click to expand...

Water Access was/is ... who knows now, One of the most FUNDEMENTAL RIGHTS (at least used to be) in Canadian Law.
Friggin unbelievable... what "Their" getting away with nowadays.

It used to be MANDATORY that there was at least an ACCESS way to a lake / river.
I know this from my dad telling me this like 40 years ago (We had cottage in Northern Ontario - Round Lake, Outside Kirkland lake) and that was like in the middle of nowwhere.
How times have changed.

SAD

Not sure how long the port authority bylaw would stand, once the Don Valley redevelopment gets underway. I am sure that the Port Authority bylaw is only enforced inside the portlands at the east end of the harbour, (which makes sense) but the bylaw is so badly written I did forward the info on to MNR seeing as how they are publicly encouraging people to fish on the islands, humber park, ashbridges and other port authority jurisdictions...hahaha.