GLPOA Fish Committee
As of the fall of 2023, these are the team leads and coordinators of the Fish Committee. We have close to 30 people that have offered help to date, including a number of past fish committee members, but are always open to more help, including volunteers to execute the next phase of our Walleye Rehabilitation Program. Please contact Don Bishop or write to glpoainfo@gmail.com.
Co-chairs: Don Bishop and Dr. Peter Heinermann
Don Bishop:
Do
n moved to Eganville with his family in the late 60’s, he has lived on Golden Lake since 1986. He started his first business at the age of 20, when he ran Bishops’ Sports in Eganville with his brother. After that closed in 1993, Don got involved in the aquaculture industry, first through a partnership with a Japanese company that developed solutions for mollusk farming, and then through a partnership with an American manufacturer, where he helped design containment and waste management technologies for different species of finfish internationally both near shore, off shore and freshwater lakes. He then went on to start two companies with partners, one refurbishing and rebuilding wastewater treatment plants and technologies for nutrient recovery, as well as an environmental clean-up company. The latter two he sold to his business partners in 2018.
He travelled the world for 25 years creating solutions and building his companies, which has given him experience on many levels. Don is still involved with both of the aquaculture ventures on a part-time advisory basis. He has also been involved in research and development of wastewater and nutrient recovery technologies, as well as shoreline erosion-prevention methods and contaminated soil remediation. Now semi-retired, he has volunteered with the Eganville and Area Community Development Group, coaching and mentoring individuals and companies in a variety of ways.
Dr. Peter Heinermann
Peter’s ties to Golden Lake go back 32 years, when he first started attending Red Pine Camp, a tradition that continues to this day. He has also organized and run a catch-and-release children’s fishing derby at Red Pine for over three decades. He retired in September of 2019, after a 28-year career as the Undergraduate Laboratory Coordinator in the Department of Biology at the University of Ottawa.
Peter has also worked as a research assistant at the University of Waterloo and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, studying Atlantic Salmon and Brook Trout; a project biologist for Bio-Environmental Services Ltd; as a secondary school teacher, a Cegep instructor, and a lecturer at the University of Montreal.
Peter holds a Bachelor of Science in Honours Fisheries from the University of Guelph, an Aquatic Biology Technologist Diploma from Sheridan College, a Bachelor of Education at Western University, followed by a Master of Science and a PhD from the University of Montreal. He is also the author of more than twenty scientific publications and reports.
Jay Foran, Site Technical Management:
Jay was raised in Eganville, and other than a few years in Alberta after high school, seeking fortune, he has lived in the Deacon area for 34 years. During this time he has helped with his in-law’s family-run business, Kasdorff’s Cottages, which has been established for decades. Most of Jay’s career has been in the power sports industry as a parts person, and he also served on the Golden Lake fire department for 10 years. In the late 90’s, he became involved with the GLPOA, specifically the Hazard Marking program, but he stepped back from that as I had also become part of the Fish Committee in 2013 and could not devote 100% to both.
Angling became a passion for Jay, as a time to relax and visit different waterways. Algonquin Park has also been a special refuge, and he was fortunate to get involved with a group of avid canoeists/backcountry adventurers when he returned to Ontario. For many years they would research a lake in the interior, making one trip at trout opening (April) and one before closing (late September). Jay continues to visit Algonquin, however the trips are much easier. Angling and boating have become major economic drivers for tourism and this is one reason Jay chose to devote time to the rehabilitation of the Golden Lake fishery.
Richard Juhasz, Invasive Species
Rich grew up on a tobacco farm in Southwestern Ontario near Tillsonburg and emigrated to the
Ottawa Valley in 1990. Having graduated from the University of Western Ontario in 1979 with a
BSc in Biology he worked in the pharmaceutical, medical and dental sales industry for 20 +
years. He married into a family that has a cottage on Golden Lake in 1996. This rekindled his
passion for fishing. In recent years of fi
shing he’s been cognizant of changes which have occurred in the aquastructure of the lake and has noticed not only a decline in pickerel fishing on the lake but
also other game fish species. Many areas which formerly had abundance of weed beds
especially Northern Milfoil (or possibly coontail) have disappeared. These areas held significant
numbers of all the game fish in Golden Lake. He’s been asked to participate in assisting,
measuring and hopefully determining parameters as to why our Bonnechere River system has
not been subject to the invasion of Zebra mussels which have migrated up the Ottawa River to
a certain point. We look forward to working cooperatively with the expert team assembled to rekindle the walleye and other fisheries on Golden Lake
Steve Benoit, Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nations Representative:
Steve Benoit is a proud member of The Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation and is currently managing their natural resources department. A nature enthusiast, Steve enjoys hunting, fishing, boating, and camping in Pikwakanagan’s traditional territory with most activity in the Golden Lake area. Steve has strong roots in the area as he has lived here for the entirety of his life and is very connected to his community and the surrounding communities as well. Steve has previously sat on the Council for the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation for two terms totalling six years and has also worked in his organization’s consultation department. He has experience in a variety of forestry related work such as nursery work, tree marking and technical studies. Steve has also done work in fisheries studies in Golden Lake and surrounding local lakes on Walleye and trout research.
Brian Yourth, Smelt run and fry
Brian was raised in Golden Lake, where his grandfather and family ran a fishing lodge called Twin Maples for many years. He attended Opeongo High School until Grade 10, when his family moved to Port Elgin, and after school he worked for Ontario Hydro/Bruce Power for 32 years. He was a member of the Lake Huron Fishing Club, where he helped the group build a Chinook Salmon fish hatchery in Port Elgin. Brian returned to Golden Lake in 2009 after retiring from Ontario Hydro, and he joined the GLPOA fish commitee in 2013. He is an avid fisherman, and is dedicated to working to help restore the walleye fishery to the glory days of his youth.
Peter Wilson, Data and Records Management
Peter Wilson is a geographer who has had a 40-year career working on environmental projects. With a BSc and an MSc from McGill and an MBA from Queen’s, he has always been interested in communicating environmental research results through innovative data management methods that integrate spatial, temporal and thematic information. Peter has received a number of awards for his work, including a Treasury Board of Canada Gold Medal for Innovation in Information Management and an Environmental Systems Research Institute Award for innovation in geographic information systems. Peter shares an island property on the Lake with his wife, Joan Holmes.
Mathew Ingram, communications:
Mathew is a journalist who worked for the Globe and Mail for a number of years as a reporter and editor, and has also worked for Fortune magazine. He currently writes for the Columbia Journalism Review in New York, where he is the chief digital writer. He has been a summer resident of Golden Lake ever since he was born about 60-odd years ago, and his mother was also a summer resident ever since she 
was a little girl, after her grandmother bought the property sometime in the 1930s. Mathew freely admits that he is not much of a fisherman, but he cares deeply about the lake and the ecosystem, and so he wants to do everything he can to help keep it healthy. Mathew’s role on the Fish Committee is mostly communications-related, so if you don’t like something about the website, please feel free to let him know at mathew@mathewingram.com.
Open positions:
— Grants/Fundraising
— Permits