Fisheries management in Alberta

[mickeyjim]

http://www.gov.mb.ca/waterstewardship/fish/pdf/stock2015.pdf

http://www.environment.gov.sk.ca/adx/aspx/adxGetMedia.aspx?DocID=fa370435-939d-4f71-8adf-bd11d436bb33&MediaID=3756148a-0d60-443a-8f6e-e2105b8b2dcd&Filename=2015+Stocked+Waters+Guide.pdf&l=English

https://gfapps.nd.gov/reports/fisheries/FishStockingMajorWaters.pdf

I know this thread has been discussed numerous times, but who doesn't love beating a dead horse. In Alberta, there is a trend to reduce angling limits when fish populations get low. There has been almost no stocking effort for walleye for as far back as the report on mywildalberta show (with the exception of 2 lakes).

I read a bunch of stuff on the Alberta environment page today regarding our fisheries. It talked all about recruitment numbers, age classes in various lakes and fish populations. Most of the data they had showed poor performance in almost all areas in southern reservoirs, hence the lower limits/zero retention rules.

How come in Alberta, with our massive tax base, we can't stock a walleye? All these other jurisdictions do. I know people will say Alberta water's are pressured more, but I doubt that is true for most of the southern reservoirs.

[Newellknik]

Is already at the packing house . This bad attitude and bad management
Didn't happen over night......the PC s had 44 years to make this into an
Art form . The whole ESRD plan is pure fiction . When questioned ,
They point to say Pigeon , look at the population , duhhhhh . That's not
Management , that's pure nonsense . If you can't keep the resource or
Harvest then licences should be free .
The fish tax will grow ( tags ) to massive proportion . It's poachers
Heaven.
Our reservoir system is Taylor made for Walleye stocking but the EID-Wid
Will not let them modify the reservoirs to contain fish ....

[huntsfurfish]

:):party0052::)

[Newellknik]

Someone,anyone steps in and explains to us AO-ites that in the south
The land ,the reservoirs are owned by the EID and it us only by the
Goodness of their hearts are we the angling public allowed to enter .
No interference or modification by govt of any sort will be allowed .
Current concerns are mussels in the reservoir system . It is foreseeable
that if mussels cause the dilemmas here as they are in other provinces .
Human trespass could be curtailed . I realize that stocking of different
Water sheds is unlikely. Those beet farmers don't want to buy polluted
Irrigation . Burying the canals is bad enough ....

[RavYak]

Some info on the subject. I don't completely agree with all of it as I think past failures were a mixture of issues and that there were other ways to achieve better populations.

http://esrd.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/fisheries-management/fish-sustainability-index/fsi-species-maps/documents/WalleyeLakesPopulationStatus-Sep23-2015A.pdf

The biggest issue I believe is that when they used to stock walleye they also had commercial walleye fishing and increased limits. I think now with no commercial fishing healthy populations would be possible if they simply had reduced limits(heck make it 1 on every lake) and controlled slot sizes etc they could control the populations.

It would have to be done on a macro level though, you can't expect just one or two lakes to have healthy populations while everything else is closed. It doesn't matter how low you put the limits on some of these lakes if the catch and keep crowd has no where else to go they will converge on the remaining lakes until they are fished out.

[Pudelpointer]

Fisheries management and Alberta..... kind of like a discussion about the chances of a Sasquatch roaming Alberta's foothills; pure fantasy.

[Okotokian]

In Alberta, "fisheries management" is seen as simply regulating/limiting the actions of fishermen and fisherwomen. What it really should be defined as is managing the environmental impacts (fishing, industry, development, water use and quality, etc) to ensure quality fish populations. Unfortunately this is ignored. Better to use a big stick on one small actor (us). You could ban all fishing in cutthroat and bull trout streams, and they will still disappear.