From There to Here: History of Freshwater Fisheries Science and Management in Ontario and the Great Lakes and Their Contribution to the Wider Canadian Perspective

The history of fisheries science in Ontario and the Great Lakes is central to the development of freshwater fisheries science in Canada over the past century.  Largely through programs developed at the University of Toronto and the affiliated Ontario Fisheries Research Laboratory, staff led major investigations of Lake Nipigon, Lake Nipissing, the Laurentian Great Lakes and other aquatic ecosystems.  A who’s who of fishery science passed through this program with many later occupying influential positions in other locations in Canada.   The close connection between the University of Toronto and the prevailing management agency of the day (Ontario Department of Lands and Forests) was very important.  It led to an ecosystem approach to better understand and mitigate human influences on fisheries, and the incorporation of science in the management of natural resources.  The long-term influence of this relationship is the continued recognition to this day that the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources strives for science-based decisions and maintains an active science program.  In this presentation we show how individuals and programs were important in the interplay between academia and resource management agency – a feature of natural resource management that now seems under stress.