it is even the mnrs stance to work on native fish first.
there is definitely moremoney spent on the fish in the lake, but there are many millions of dollars at stake in great lakes salmon fishing.
Yes, and all Great Lakes salmon fishing is fishing of non-native Pacific Salmonids, our natural Lake Trout and Atlantics are effectively dead at the moment.
Fact is the Pacific Salmonids and the spreading of Bass in waters that did not natively have them in the first place was done to restock waterways that were losing its native species due to human pressure (aka over fishing, both sport and commercial fisheries).
And what do both groups of these fish have to offer? Quick returns on investment. Same reason why the MNR's predecessor agency released Common carp in our waters. Fixing our native species, to levels that are sustainable for sport fishing, let alone commercial fisheries, would take many more millions of dollars and many more years to have a positive effect.
When you release a bunch of Chinooks in the water, you know they will spawn in 4 years, and die off so regardless of the number of fisherman taking them out of the water, you'll more or less have semi-healthy populations with large daily catch limits, when you release Atlantics it takes a longer time period, and since they do not die after spawning, its harder and more unpredictable to control their life cycles.
Its the easy way out, this is what our Fisheries management has always been, Chinook Salmon, Carp, and Rainbow Trout, followed by the spreading of thousands of Bass in waters they were never native to, were all done to achieve a quick fix on our fisheries, and as a group, we have done nothing to fix this situation, or really help the native species. We have put bandages on our fisheries, but have not stopped the bleeding at the artery.
Jim