Quote:
Originally Posted by HunterDave
More info on keeping smaller "eater" sized fish and letting the bigger "spawner" sized ones go:
http://www.ffc.org.au/FFC_files/Sust...BOFFFF_web.pdf
"Many fishers have understood the need to let the big breeders go for a long time now.....
What does BOFFFF mean?
BOFFFF = Big Old Fat Fecund Female Fish
BOFFFF are the larger, older females which, according
to recent research results, generally produce a lot more
offspring, more times per year, than younger females do.
Additionally, the offspring of larger females are often
healthier and more likely to survive. Older fi sh are more
likely to survive and contribute in the ‘bad years’ when
environmental factors mean reduced recruitment to the fish
stocks. For many species, one of the best ways to ensure long
term successful reproduction and replenishment of the fi sh
stocks is to protect the larger, healthy female breeders." |
I completely understand where you are coming from, and you have a very valid concern. There are two main things that keep this from being a necessary consideration.
First of all, the lakes are going to be continually stocked. This is not about trying to establish a self sustaining fishery where it will be important to release the spawners. The population will be maintained through spawning.
Secondly, with the high numbers of anglers per lake in Alberta compared to other provinces, there is another issue to consider. This is that if we protected larger fish and allowed small fish to be harvested, it is likely that very few would make it to a size where they were actually protected.
The fact of the matter is, we are not trying to create a trophy fishery with a self sustaining population. Currently with the regulations how they are, we have lots of fish in the 6"-13" range, with a few over since the size limit is 12". Now if we change the size limit 20", we will have a lake with lots of fish in the 6"-21" range with a few over.
For these reasons, I don't think we need to worry about protecting the spawners. Additionally, very few of these large fish will be spawning anyway.