Now that I am home I can see how I poorly worded my first comment regarding breaking the law and understand why you guys had issue with it as it did not convey my point very well, joys of using phone on the go...
For some further clarification.
AEP does not let kayak fishing tournaments count double the legal limit on lakes nor hold tournaments on tag lakes. This even though we use the CPR system and most of our tournaments range from 20-60 guys. The effect on the fish populations by our tournaments are minuscule.
The walleye tournaments are allowed to count more fish then their limit and even hold one tournament at a tag lake. This requires government allowances so anglers can do what would normally be considered an illegal act(see below for details). With ~ 100 teams carrying 4+ walleye in their livewell per day these walleye tournaments without a doubt have a much more significant effect on populations then our tournaments do yet they see less stringent requirements.
As was supposed to be my point, I think the walleye tournaments should be CPR or AEP should at least get rid of the double standards and offer similar tournament allowances to other groups. Better yet they should loosen up their requirements for all tournaments including the walleye tournaments. Many of our tag lakes and C&R lakes are the healthiest lakes in AB and it would make much more sense to hold tournaments at these lakes rather than forcing us to hold tournaments at lakes that do not have healthy populations just because they have open regulations...
For clarification regarding the laws that I have referenced.
From the Alberta Fishing Regulations(act not summary)
Quote:
|
(4) For the purposes of these Regulations, a fish is considered to be retained when it is not immediately returned to the waters from which it was taken.
|
And from the summary
Quote:
|
Fish kept on a stringer or a live well are considered retained and are part of your limit.
|
Schedule A of the competitive fishing event license must have an allowance for this in these walleye tournaments. My frustration is why only walleye tournaments are given this privilege. My frustration is not with walleye tournament anglers, it is with AEP. As I mentioned in my first post I would actually be interested in competing in these walleye tournaments, I'll probably try it out next year.