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Port Hope police stepping up patrols along Ganaraska River

Click to play video: 'Port Hope Salmon Patrols'
Port Hope Salmon Patrols
Port Hope police are stepping up patrols along the Ganaraska River. They're looking for violators of the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act – Sep 4, 2018

Officers with the Port Hope Police Service are walking the beat along the banks of the Ganaraska River. They’re looking for anyone who’s violating Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act.

Specifically, breaking rules around fishing which includes fishing in restricted areas, such as the fish sanctuary, taking too many fish and fishing without a licence.

READ MORE: Alberta boy catches 16-pound koi in St. Albert lake: ‘That’s way breaking my record’

Police charged a man who was allegedly fishing with his son at Corbett’s Dam, a restricted area.

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“They were standing right under one of the ‘no fishing’ signs. When I called them over, they claimed they didn’t know,” said Staff Sgt. Katie Andrews of the Port Hope Police Service. “It’s your responsibility to know the rules.”

That man was fined $305.

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Since 2016, police have taken on the responsibility of patrolling the riverbanks.

They’ve earmarked between $8,000 to $10,000 in the police budget for these patrols.

READ MORE: Kids and cops partner for annual Fishing Day in Peterborough

“The complaints coming into Port Hope were the littering and the smell of the dead fish so we are trying to control that,” added Andrews. “So in September, we work weekends on the river.”

There are also night fishing restrictions in place.

Fishing is restricted from the Robertson Street bridge to the Molson Street bridge between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.

With the exception of the southerly portion of the river from the CN bridge to Lake Ontario where year-round fishing is permitted, trout and salmon fishing is permitted until the end of September.

Bass season ends on Dec. 15.

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