Learning ethical fishing, by icefishing: Manitoba Wildlife Federation hosts ice fishing festival

The Manitoba Wildlife Association held its annual Ice Fishing Festival over the weekend where attendees got to learn about ethical ice fishing.

Visitors to FortWhyte Alive had the opportunity to learn about ethical ice fishing for free.

On Saturday, the Manitoba Wildlife Federation held its fifth annual Ice Fishing Festival at FortWhyte Alive in Winnipeg. The free, family-friendly event offered visitors a glimpse of what it’s like to ice fish by offering all the equipment and supplies for free, with no fishing license required.

President of FortWhyte Alive Liz Wilson said the event addresses several objectives.

“We care to bring people down here for ice fishing to explain part of our natural resources, what is ethical fishing, how to do it properly and safely,” she said on Saturday.

“A lot of the time, people are nervous to go out on the ice in winter. This is a great opportunity to learn and be educated about how to do things safely.”

When attendees pull a fish out of the water, fisheries volunteers do scale sampling for the attendees to ensure ethical fishing and put the fish back into the water.

Pike, walleye, pickerel, perch and carp could be found in the ice, Wilson said.

“The great thing about today is that we couldn’t do this without the volunteers with the Manitoba Wildlife Federation and also our FortWhyte Alive volunteers.

“Our volunteers are the lifeblood of everything we do here at FortWhyte Alive.”