Weather wreaks havoc on ice fishing hut removal

Their unfortunate discovery? Dozens of huts frozen solid in the ice, thanks to recent winter storms. A weekend of hacking and chopping followed, as ice fishers struggled to meet the Saturday, March 15 removal deadline and avoid provincial fines.

While an estimated 50 huts remained after Saturday’s midnight cut-off, Al Macintyre, president of the Petrie Island Ice Fishermen’s Association, says as of Tuesday, March 18, only 15 to 20 huts were left, many of them expected to be removed later that day.

The massive dumping of snow received by Ottawa earlier this month – 98 cm during the first nine days of March, according to city reports – is to blame for many of the troubles with removing the huts, he continues. The pressure from the heavy weight of the snow on the ice at Petrie created a dip in the middle of the bay, Macintyre explains, resulting in slush creeping under the newly-fallen snow and freezing the huts in place – even his car was stuck on the ice road, which accesses the huts across the frozen bay, for six days.

A large part of the issue was that some owners had not properly jacked up their huts on blocks, Macintyre continues, leading to several structures even sinking down as low as their door.

Adding to problems was the breakdown of the Oziles’ Baitshop plow, which cleans the ice road, in the days before the removal deadline, according to information from the association. Needed parts could not be procured in time, leaving the ice road closed and inaccessible to owners hoping to remove their huts. “It was an unusual situation with the weather … there was a lot of frustration from people,” says Macintyre, commending the ice-fishing community for banding together to help remove remaining huts throughout the latter part of the weekend.

Steve Aubry, enforcement supervisor for the Ministry of Natural Resources, says the out-of-court fine for keeping a hut on the ice beyond deadline is $150 plus any surcharges “if the officer chooses to go that route … (their) discretion comes into play.”

And while a ministry official might consider what efforts were undertaken to get huts off the ice, he adds that the legislation surrounding hut removal is anything but new. “It’s up to the person who has the ice hut … to monitor the situation and have it removed no later than the 15th (in this case),” Aubry says, adding that it’s the responsibility of each owner to keep watch on the condition of their huts.

Many area residents even took the proactive step of taking away their huts before the big storm hit earlier this month, he continues.

Meanwhile anyone charged for non-removal of a hut has several options, Aubry explains, including paying their fine, meeting with a justice of the peace and pleading guilty with hopes of negotiating a fine reduction or pleading not guilty and going to trial. “The whole point of setting a date is to ensure the huts don’t go through the ice,” he says, adding that wayward huts could cause environmental concerns at the body of water in question, or float downstream and become navigational hazards for vessels.

Looking towards next season, Macintyre stresses that anyone hoping to enjoy ice fishing at Petrie should ensure their huts are properly jacked. “When they’re frozen in, it takes about eight guys with axes and chainsaws to dig them out,” he adds. “It’s a common sense thing.”