New Tourism Regions

The province's plan to create 13 new tourism zones isn't sitting well with all tourist groups in this region.

A conference call was held yesterday by the Ministry of Tourism to explain how the new regions were going to work.

Gerry Cariou is the executive director of the Ontario Sunset Country Travel Association and says basically the province is trying to control how tourist marketing dollars aregoing to be spent.

Cariou says Sunset Country will continue to operate and use the internet extensively to market this region.

He admits the creation of the new tourism regions will likely have a small impact ontheir annual budget.

2010 Policing Costs

The Kenora Detachment is preparing for the New Year and has released an estimated figure for policing costs in 2010.

Inspector Dave Lucas says nothing is set in stone.

The estimated costs for the OPP in 2010 is set at just over 6.4 million dollars.

The increase in the 2010 cost is related to yearly pay increases.

Snow Northwestern Ontario

Christmas travel plans for residents in the Rainy River district and the rest of Northwestern Ontario may be altered.

Mark Firman of Environment Canada says a major storm is gathering strength in the western United States, and is headed for the area.

In the Fort Frances and International Falls area, as much as 15 centimetres of snow is expected
to fall over the next few days beginning as early as tomorrow.

Pyzer New Fishing Regulations

New fishing regulations for Lake of the Woods are getting thethumbs up, especially for lake trout limits.

The Ministry of Natural Resources recently came out with its2010 fishing guide.

Gord Pyzer is one of the people who has been pushing for the lake trout catchrestrictions and says it will help protect the species for years to come.

Under the new regulations, there is a zero catch limit for lake trout in much of the northern part of Lake of the Woods.

The exception is Whitefish Bay and other areas on the southwestside of Lake of the Woods.