Commercial fishing is shutdown in Alberta
 

See:
http://esrd.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife...g-alberta.aspx

The best thing the new minister has done. :)

Hallelujah!
 

This is such good news. Here's what it says at the above link:

"Commercial Fishing in Alberta
On August 1, 2014, all lakes in Alberta will be closed to commercial fishing.
A provincial assessment and an extensive third-party review have been completed to assess the long-term viability of Alberta’s commercial fishery and determined that Alberta’s commercial fishery is no longer viable.
Closing the commercial fishery is an important step in protecting the long-term sustainability of Alberta’s fishery. The closure will help to ensure we can meet the increasing pressure and demands placed on the province’s limited number of lakes."

Low hanging fruit. You will continue to see nets in LSL and CL next year.

We have a fisheries problem in Alberta.. a big problem which ever way you look at it.

I find such a small move to be rather insulting.

I did not vote for him.

The lake whitefish are going to devastate a few lakes in a matter of years... Not good

You can add nets in LLB, Beaver, along with all of the lakes in Lakeland Provincial Recreation Area, to continue with the present walleye limits.

I don't agree. More people will target them if their numbers increase thus keeping the numbers down. I know I would. Maybe they will clean the lakes up a little as they feed mostly on small worms and bugs if i'm not mistaken.

Some lakes yes. In lakes where there is a large enough established predator base.... I think this should actually help in the short / medium term (5-10 years). But for lakes that the mature walleye and pike numbers are already struggling as it is..... Whites will explode and wont really help out and potentially choke out the lake. Will probably balance out in 10 years-20 years but probably not the best course of action if we are looking at restoring our lakes.

There are goods and bads

Good points Applejax and Dan Foss.

Stabilization of an ecosystem, if there ever is any, does not occur over night.

Is here some part of that announcement that I missed. Does not closed mean closed. No where do I see anything about some lakes continuing with commercial fishing. Sorry if I missed it.

Does this mean no more nets in McGreger?

Ther will still be nets allowed to be set by 1st nations people . And I don't have an issue with that ! But I do agree that the commercial side needed to stop !

This is a good thing for Alberta Lakes. Years of scientific research have finally proven that there are not enough lakes in Alberta to sustain a commercial fishery with the population boom that was forecasted 20 years ago. Whitefish choking out lakes? C'mon people. Seriously? There will be more bigger Pike, Walleye and Lake Trout caught in the near future due to this closure. Finally something is done correctly. Now if they can just introduce a slot sized limit to protect the big breeders, that would put the icing on the cake!

I Agree!

If I could only catch the illusive white fish.. I had on on the line last year, it spit the hook before I got him through the hole.

The white fish are my Unicoirn. The limits are there to taunt me... :cry:

As for closing the commercial fisheries, I wonder what kind of compensation the government is planning for the commercial fishing field.

I agree closing or reducing the amount of commercial fishing is a step in the right direction to help the lakes thrive.

I wonder if in 5-10 year we will see limits increased or removed on certain lakes for Walleyes and Jack fish.

It will be interesting to see if/how this change actually affects the lakes in Alberta. But what I'm most interest in, is when people still can't catch larger pike and walleye, what will they blame when they can't blame commercial fishing for their bycatch.... That's for another thread I suppose.... :)

I'm willing to bet we see negligible differences in the short term. I'm hopeful that the change will bring the desired results of more stable pike and walleye fisheries with the expanded food base, but I'm doubtful that we will see that difference. Time will tell.

I think that this is a step in the right direction but I agree that we also need to protect the big spawners to help balance on the whitefish.

So its not all lakes as stated, only some of them? Not sure where or what LSL and CL is.

now if they put a slot size and allow you to at least have one for the outing l be happy but for now all this totaly release just kepts the man that was shown have to fis hungry.

cold lake is still netted on the sask side, Push to have them bought out

They will probably increase their quota now :)

"On August 1, 2014, all lakes in Alberta will be closed to commercial fishing.

A provincial assessment and an extensive third-party review have been completed to assess the long-term viability of Alberta’s commercial fishery and determined that Alberta’s commercial fishery is no longer viable.

Closing the commercial fishery is an important step in protecting the long-term sustainability of Alberta’s fishery. The closure will help to ensure we can meet the increasing pressure and demands placed on the province’s limited number of lakes."


Maybe I'm reading too much into the news release, but I have to wonder if more is planned. Increasing the number of C&R lakes as well as lowering catch limits more could be possible in the future and should also be considered now before more lakes collapse.

More people vs. a limited amount of fishable water has only one outcome, and its not good.

What will the effect of no commercial fishing have?

I'm thinking it won't be seen for 2-5 years. The effects will only start to materialize next year when the full #'s of whitefish are able to spawn from this season forward. Definitely the plus side is more food for other species of fish.

In lakes with few predators, an explosion of the whitefish population will be followed by a large increase in the #'s of predators after a couple years have gone by. This secondary increase will only become evident as the increased survival rate of the predators to reach spawning age may take 3-5 years.

Will whitefish dominate some lakes, now that there is no commercial fishing? Perhaps, but I believe that it would only be temporary.

I could see recruitment rates of any spring spawning fish dropping like a stone but that could be balance by predation on whitefish fry over the winter

One possible outcome is there will be way more summer kill of whitefish and instead of using a resource, it rots on the beach or we pay to pick it up and haul to a land fill.

I see this as a feel good measure that at best will have no effect, the commercial fishery was not the problem,

If whitefish numbers increase from not netting them, I predict that the cormorant, pelican, eagle, osprey and other fish bird populations will go up in coming years.

NOPE Albert SRD dictates cold lake, they want it gone, CUT Cut and shut them down with out paying them out unlike how they paid out the AB Guys, Just pay em out and shut it down and watch the white over populate

Agree.

Im not convinced this is a good thing. In particular, for the southern reservoirs.

I had a good talk with a fw officer a few weeks ago about this topic and many other outdoor related themes.
I really wanted to be setting up elk camp. But I enjoyed talking to the officer.

He figured there would be a concern about the white fish as well.
What fish eats a 5lb white in our lakes.

This could be a very viable concern.

But I am also willing to see if the Eco system will stabilize.

Mind you given time, white's can grow very large, can you imaging a 20 pounder on a fly rod in open water :)

To really leverage this change they would have to start to protect bigger pike. So something like a kill zone of 63-75 cm then one tag/tear for a pike over 100 cm.

Whitefish are the only fish productive enough to satisfy the hordes, if they don't ruin the lake over-fishing other species will. It's a win win!

Big pike will eat 5 lb. white fish.