The International Lake Ontario-St. Lawrence River Board is looking to gather valuable information from recreational boaters and marina and yacht club owners.
The Board temporarily reduced outflows from Lake Ontario from October 7 to October 10, 2022, with the intention of increasing water levels on Lake St. Lawrence. This was done to help provide marinas and shoreline dock owners with the ability to remove their boats more easily at the end of the boating season.
The Board operates under the discretionary authority of the International Joint Commission and has the ability to temporarily adjust flows from Plan 2014 prescribed flows at the Moses-Saunders Dam. This minor deviation is sometimes implemented during the fall season to raise water levels and improve conditions for boat haul-out on Lake St. Lawrence.
There are over 700 marina and boat club slips and hundreds of private docks located along the shores of Lake St. Lawrence, and recreational boaters often face challenges when it comes to removing their boats from the water at the end of the season due to high and low water level conditions.
To better understand the impact of the reduced outflows and the use of the minor deviation, the Board is conducting surveys to gather information on the following: access to the water for boat removal, methods used for boat removal, and whether recreational boaters took advantage of the improved conditions provided by the temporary deviation.
The information gathered from these surveys will be crucial in helping the Board make informed decisions in the future when considering similar strategies to improve conditions and make the removal of boats from the water more convenient for recreational boaters. The surveys will be available until March 3, 2023.
Marina and yacht club owners survey
The Board is eager to hear from those who have been directly impacted by the reduced outflows and is encouraging all those who have been affected to participate in the surveys.
Photo (cropped): The International Lake Ontario – St. Lawrence River Board
