Quote:
Originally Posted by HunterDave
My Top Ten Reasons Why I do NOT support This Proposal:
1. I refuse to endorse anything that isn't well thought out and studied.
2. There has been nothing substantial presented by anyone endorsing this proposal that indicates to me that it is a good idea.
3. There has been no study of the lake to determine what the ramifications would be of having more large fish in it.
4. There has been no study done on the economic impact such a proposal would have on the tourist industry and local businesses in the Kan Lakes area.
5. No one has been consulted in the Kan Lakes area to get a clear indication of what the users of the area would want.
6. SRD has not been contacted to confirm whether or not there's a legitimate reason for the current regs to be in place as they are.
7. Possession rates will be slashed 66%.
8. Mortality rates of easy to catch smaller fish could potentially increase due to fish trauma associated with catch and release requirements.
9. It is a poor lesson in conservation to teach young anglers to keep large spawning sized fish and not smaller eating sized ones.
10.IMHO this point isn't required so I'll just throw it away...........plus I'm lazy.
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Before I get to addressing the specific points, here is a list referring to the original post about the petition. I am not sure if it will help at all, or if you may have already seen it.
http://outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=77783
1. I completely respect your view on that. I may be incorrect, but I believe that a petition showing angler interest in this would lead to further studies being done. If a few people believe that this could improve the fishery and present it at a round table meeting, then perhaps SRD would look further into the lakes and their potential. If studies were to show that these lakes were unsuitable, then they would probably research other possible lakes due to angler support for such fisheries. I believe that by signing such this petition you are supporting more than just a regulation change on 2 lakes, but also showing the government that there is a significant number of fishermen who are passionate about having fisheries like proposed. It could also lead to more money given to other future studies as fishermen see that the government will actually listen to them.
2. I don't know exactly what you are looking for, but the reason I am in support of this is simply to create another fishery with large numbers of quality fish.
3. and 4. are the same as number 1. Additionally, I do realize that Bullshead isn't an identical situation, but the past management at Bullshead has shown that SRD does take these lakes seriously. If there were too many larger fish (ie. too much biomass at the level of the food chain that trout occupy), it would be apparent within a few years as growth rates noticably change. If this was to occur, as it did at Bullshead, fishermen would get involved and discuss stocking rates with SRD and have them reduced if necessary. I expect that if this was to go through then there would be a group of anglers that become very involved in this fishery.
5. It would likely be a good idea to consult people in the area. Unfortunately that has not happened yet, and now that it is winter there will be relatively few people in the area. For the time being I believe it is beneficial to survey here for a general opinion, as well as reach some users of Kananaskis Lakes that frequent the forum, then next summer people could be consulted in Kananaskis.
6. As noted in the link I posted above, the first round of this petition was discussed as the SRD Round Table meeting recently. If there was a reason for the regs to be in place exactly how they are I believe that would be something that would be mentioned.
7. I completely understand your point. I have been to the lakes but haven't fished them much, but from my understanding most of the fish are under or just marginally over the 30cm limit. I have seen numberous lakes of fish of various species where this type of situation exists, especially where there is significant fishing pressure. Assuming this trend continues with an increased size limit to 50cm, we could likely expect numerous fish up to 50cm with a few over. The fish now being stocked are cutthroats, which usually remain gullible and easy to catch even as they grow large, so I don't feel we need to worry about a fish just over the 50cm limit being that much harder to catch than a fish just over a 30cm limit. Now, since a fish's weight will grow approximately proportional to the cube of the change in the fish's length, a 55cm trout will have more meat on it than 3 35cm trout. In this case, while the posession limits will be reduced by 66% in terms of numbers of fish, the amount of fish by weight will stay the same or even increase under the proposed regulations.
8. This is definitely possible. I know I made a post earlier in this thread mentioning that there will be people wanting to help the lakes. They would likely do things such as: politely helping people out with fish handling techniques, lobbying SRD and/or Kananaskis Country to install signs on fish handling, or even raising money themselves for these signs. Recent history has shown that passionate fishermen in Alberta can collectively raise thousands of dollars towards a cause they believe in. While this will not completely eliminate mortality, I believe it will keep it to a very reasonable minimum.
9. I see where you are coming from, but I don't see that as being a huge deal here simply because they are stocked lakes and that would not be the purpose of these lakes. Yes, it is an important lessons to teach young anglers, but I believe that since there are so many places to teach such a thing that we don't need to worry about having one fewer.
One question I do have for you though. Are you opposed to the idea of such regulations being implemented anywhere with the intention of creating higher quality fisheries (by some people's standards), or are you more of the opinion that this case simply needs more research before being valid to seriously consider?