Have that sinking feeling you know who left their ice hut out on Lake Simcoe?
It may be time to give the Ministry of Northern Development, Mines, Natural Resources and Forestry a call. Ministry officials are seeking help with identifying the people responsible for unlawfully leaving their ice-fishing hut on Cook's Bay, a stretch of water at the southernmost tip of the lake that runs between the Lefroy, Gilford and Keswick shorelines.
On March 6, ministry conservation officers were operating a Remotely Piloted Aircraft System (RPAS) in the area. The RPAS flights were conducted to determine if any huts had been left abandoned on the ice. A hut, described as having a blue tarp roof but otherwise built of wood and plywood, was located partially submerged in the water on the edge of the ice pack.
No registration numbers were located on the hut and it may have been purposely abandoned on the melting ice.
“The ministry takes this situation very seriously,” enforcement branch spokesperson Andrew Chambers said in an email. “As a reminder to anglers, all ice huts must be removed before ice breakup, even if no removal date applies. Conservation officers are strongly recommending that all ice hut owners develop and action their ice hut removal plans before the ice conditions deteriorate to prevent situations like this from occurring.”
On Lake Simcoe, March 15 is the deadline to get huts off the ice — though removal dates can vary throughout the month, depending on the Fisheries Management Zone location within the province.
Emergency services and conservation authorities throughout the region have issued warnings in recent days due to the rapidly deteriorating ice conditions on local waterways.
Anyone with information related to this incident is asked to call the ministry’s tip line at 1-877-847-7667, contact a local ministry office or leave information anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
