GLPOA Fish Committee

As of the fall of 2022, 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 for more info.

Co-chairs: Don Bishop and Dr. Peter Heinermann

Don Bishop:

Don 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. 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.