Ward 5 Coun. Robert Kirwan took to Facebook (as he often does) this week to express his frustration at an ice hut that was burned on Whitson Lake recently.
Kirwan told Sudbury.com a Ward 5 constituent tipped him off to the incident and sent him the photos. The city councillor also said the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has been notified.
In his Facebook post, Kirwan wrote that he found it “disheartening” and irresponsible that someone would burn their ice hut rather than removing it from the lake.
“Why on earth would someone burn down their ice fishing hut instead of doing the responsible thing and removing it from the lake?” he wrote. “It is very disheartening for local residents of Whitson Lake to see this kind of destruction on their wonderful lake. I imagine that scenes like this, plus garbage remnants can be found on a lot of our lakes. Please be responsible and consider the environment.”
Ice huts must be removed from certain Fisheries Management Zones (FMZ) in Ontario by a specified date. Depending on where you're located, that's mostly between March 1 and March 31. All ice huts must be removed before ice breakup, even if no removal date applies.
Ice hut owners are responsible to remove all debris, garbage etc. from the ice in the vicinity of their ice huts.
Leaving debris frozen in the ice becomes an environmental and a public safety concern, i.e. boaters colliding with wooden blocks, tarps, ice hut parts, etc.
If ice huts remain out on the ice beyond the specified deadline, the matter will be investigated and may result in charges being laid against the owner(s) of the hut.
To report a natural resources violation, phone the MNRF TIPS line at 1-877-847-7667 toll-free any time or contact your local ministry office during regular business hours.
