Boat launches in the register

2,207Fishing Access Point register, read September 28, 2026

Shoreline access points

22053 of them with a dock or a pier

Launches on municipal land

364279 provincial, 118 private, 8 federal

Launches with parking recorded

7031,385 with no parking entry

Lakes tabled below

25 lakes57 boat launches marked on them

Counties and districts tabled

44with the regions and single-tier municipalities

Public Boat Launches in Ontario

Ontario’s Fishing Access Point register holds 2,207 boat launches and 220 shoreline access points across the province. The Ministry of Natural Resources keeps the register for Fish ON-Line, the province’s online fishing map, and publishes it as open data.

Each record is one point in one of three classes. A boat launch is a site where a boat can be launched into the water. Enhanced shoreline access is a shore built up for access, with a dock or a pier. Shoreline access is an unimproved place on the shore, recorded for anglers fishing from it. Beside the class, a record holds a site name, the ownership of the land, the surface of the launch, whether parking and a user fee were recorded, whether the site is accessible to people with disabilities, and the date the site was last confirmed visited.

Most of those fields are filled for a minority of sites. The register gives the surface of 208 launches as concrete, 159 as gravel and 161 as natural shore, and leaves 1,641 unrecorded. It marks 108 launches as accessible to people with disabilities and 136 as not accessible. Site names are held for 1,754 of the 2,427 records.

Who Owns Boat Launches in Ontario

The register records the ownership of the land at each site as federal, provincial, municipal or private. Of its boat launches, 364 are on municipal land, 279 on provincial land, 118 on private land and 8 on federal land, and 1,438 have no ownership recorded.

Municipal Launches

Municipal land holds 364 of the register’s launches, 99 of them in Parry Sound District, 82 in Muskoka and 75 in Haliburton County. Fees, hours and parking rules at a municipal launch are set by the municipality.

Provincial Launches

Provincial land holds 279 launches, 207 of them in the ten territorial districts of the north. A launch inside a provincial park falls under the park’s own permits and rules.

Federal Launches and the Canal Locks

The register records eight launches on federal land. The Trent-Severn Waterway and the Rideau Canal are national historic sites operated by Parks Canada, and Parks Canada’s fee schedule for each lists fees for lockage, for mooring and for launching a boat.

Private Launches and Marinas

Private land holds 118 launches in the register, among them launches at marinas and resorts. A private launch is open on its owner’s terms.

Boat Launches by County and District

The largest counts in the register are in the northern districts: 425 boat launches in Algoma District, 417 in Thunder Bay District and 242 in Kenora District. Parry Sound District holds 137, Muskoka 101 and Haliburton County 101.

Each record is counted in the county, district, region or single-tier municipality its point falls in, on the province’s municipal boundaries. The table lists all 44. Of them, thirteen are single-tier municipalities that belong to no county, such as Kawartha Lakes and Prince Edward County.

Boat Launches by Lake

The table below counts the access points marked on 25 Ontario lakes, each read against its own shore: 57 boat launches, 21 shoreline access points, 76 marinas, 43 beaches and 13 locks and dams. Launch names are the register’s own where it gives one.

Muskoka Boat Launches

The province’s register holds 101 boat launches in Muskoka: 82 are on municipal land, 13 on private land, 2 on provincial land and 1 on federal land, and 3 have no ownership recorded. Among the lakes tabled, launches are marked on Lake of Bays (seven); Lake Muskoka (four); Kahshe Lake, Lake Joseph, Lake Rosseau and Lake Vernon (two each); and Mary Lake, Peninsula Lake, Skeleton Lake and Sparrow Lake (one each). On Mary Lake, Port Sydney Beach is an operator entry.

Kawartha Lakes Boat Launches

The province’s register holds 35 boat launches in Kawartha Lakes: 5 are on municipal land, 3 on provincial land and 1 on private land, and 26 have no ownership recorded. Among the lakes tabled, launches are marked on Sturgeon Lake (Kawartha Lakes) (seven); Balsam Lake (three); and Cameron Lake and Pigeon Lake (one each). On Sturgeon Lake, Scotch Line Boat Launch and Southview Estates Boat Launch are operator entries.

Peterborough County Boat Launches

The province’s register holds 49 boat launches in Peterborough County: 4 are on federal land, 3 on municipal land and 3 on private land, and 39 have no ownership recorded. Among the lakes tabled, launches are marked on Chemong Lake (five).

Haliburton County Boat Launches

The province’s register holds 101 boat launches in Haliburton County: 75 are on municipal land, 7 on provincial land and 1 on private land, and 18 have no ownership recorded. Among the lakes tabled, launches are marked on Haliburton Lake and Kawagama Lake (two each). On Haliburton Lake, Haliburton Lake Boat Launch is an operator entry.

Parry Sound Boat Launches

The province’s register holds 137 boat launches in Parry Sound District: 99 are on municipal land, 26 on provincial land, 6 on private land and 1 on federal land, and 5 have no ownership recorded. Among the lakes tabled, launches are marked on Otter Lake (Parry Sound District) (three) and Lake Bernard (one).

Leeds and Grenville Boat Launches

The province’s register holds three boat launches in Leeds and Grenville: two are on municipal land, and one has no ownership recorded. The table below lists the access points marked on Charleston Lake.

Lake Simcoe Boat Launches

Lake Simcoe lies across Simcoe County, York Region and Durham Region. The province’s register holds twenty boat launches in Simcoe County, seventeen in York Region and twelve in Durham Region. Nine boat launches are marked on the lake: Barrie, Tiffin Street area ramp; Bell Ewart; City of Orillia, Collins Drive; Cook's Bay, south end; Innisfil Beach Park ramp; Oro-Medonte ramp near Parkside Beach; Shannon Bay narrows; Shanty Bay; and Sibbald Point Park. Four of them are operator entries, and the other five are the register’s. The lake also has 22 marinas and 19 beaches marked.

† On Charleston Lake, eight records are under review and not counted.

Marinas, Beaches and Locks

Ontario’s register has no class for a marina, and 64 of its records name one in the site name or comment. Of the 76 marinas marked on the lakes tabled, 62 come from the Overture Places dataset, an open dataset of places and businesses, 8 are records in the province’s register and 6 are operator entries.

Of the 43 beaches marked, 12 are named beaches in Ontario’s geographic names record, 6 come from the Overture Places dataset and 25 are operator entries.

Locks and Dams

A lock lifts a boat from one water level to the next. A dam holds the water back, and a boat has no passage through it. Locks and dams on the lakes tabled come from the Ontario Dam Inventory and the Ontario Hydro Network. The locks marked are Bobcaygeon Lock & Dam (Trent-Severn Lock 32) on Pigeon Lake; Buckhorn Lock & Dam (Trent-Severn Lock 31) on Buckhorn Lake and Lower Buckhorn Lake; and Lovesick Lock & Dam (Trent-Severn Lock 30) on Lower Buckhorn Lake.

Canoe and Kayak Launches

Ontario’s register has no separate class for a canoe or kayak launch. Seventy-five of its records name canoes, kayaks, cartop or small boats, or a hand launch in the site name or comment.

The 167 shoreline access records mark unimproved shore, 127 of them on natural ground, and the 53 enhanced shoreline access records mark a dock or a pier. Both classes were recorded for anglers fishing from shore, and the boat launch class covers any site where a boat is launched into the water.

Before Launching

Fees, Hours and Parking

The register records a user fee at 68 of its boat launches and no fee at 523, and holds no fee entry for the other 1,616. Parking is recorded at 703 launches and recorded as absent at 119. Fees, opening hours, permits and parking rules are set by whoever runs each launch and published on its own pages: the municipality for a town dock or a road-end ramp, Ontario Parks for a launch inside a provincial park, Parks Canada for the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Rideau Canal, and the business at a marina.

Cleaning a Boat Between Lakes

Since January 1, 2022, Ontario’s regulation under the Invasive Species Act, 2015 has treated a boat as a carrier of invasive species. A boat, its equipment and the vehicle and trailer carrying it must be free of aquatic plants, animals and algae before arriving at a launch. Before a boat is moved overland, its drain plugs must be opened or removed and reasonable steps taken to remove any plants, animals and algae from the boat, its equipment, the vehicle and the trailer. The drain plug rule excludes drinking water, marine sanitary and closed engine cooling systems, and a livewell carrying live fish under a licence to transport them.

Where the Records Come From

The Fishing Access Point register dates from 2012, when the province built it for Fish ON-Line, and is still updated. Of the 2,427 records counted here, 1,580 were last changed in 2013 and 27 in 2026, the latest on September 4, 2026. A last-verified date, the day the site was last confirmed visited, is held for 468 records, 212 of them since 2020. The register is kept by the ministry’s Fish and Wildlife Policy Branch, and Fish ON-Line shows it on a map of the province.

The lake lists draw on four further records: Ontario’s geographic names record for beaches, the Ontario Dam Inventory and the Ontario Hydro Network for locks and dams, and the Overture Places dataset for marinas. An operator entry is an access point added from first-hand knowledge of the lake where no register records one.

Common Questions