Govt getting serious

[Don Andersen]

Folks,

This came my way late yesterday.

Don







News Release


February 11, 2009
Bill 11 will provide more sentencing options to better protect Alberta's fisheries

Edmonton... Albertans will continue to see excellent fishing opportunities thanks to legislative amendments introduced in the Alberta Legislature that add several new sentencing options to deter actions that damage the province’s fisheries.

Bill 11, the Fisheries (Alberta) Amendment Act, 2009, was introduced by Whitecourt-Ste. Anne MLA George VanderBurg.

“The proposed legislative amendments respond to public expectations for tougher penalties for fisheries violations,” said Sustainable Resource Development Minister Ted Morton. “The amendments will better equip the courts to protect our fish resources by including penalties that hold offenders responsible for returning a damaged fishery back to a healthy state.”

Bill 11 will give the provincial courts a wider variety of sentencing options (creative sentencing) to penalize those who contravene the Act. The Act currently limits the courts’ ability to impose penalties other than fines and short licence suspensions. The new sentencing options include:

* assessing a fishery’s restoration costs to convicted persons;
* issuing orders to stop new offences;
* suspending or cancelling licences;
* assessing additional monetary payments to support fisheries management and habitat enhancement programs; and
* ordering fisheries restoration actions.

“With theses changes, Albertans will continue to benefit from the effort and investments made in our fisheries resources by government, fisheries groups, industry and the public,” said George VanderBurg, MLA, Whitecourt-Ste. Anne.

-30-

Media inquiries may be directed to:

Dave Ealey
Communications
Alberta Sustainable Resource Development
780-427-8636

[packhuntr]

Good news,, time will tell i guess. I just spoke with one of my local game wardens in town this morning. I said I had heard a rumor that Crawling Valley was going to be opened this year for a limited walleye harvest, but that NON STOP YEAR ROUND POACHING had ruined it. He said and i quote here, ya, he could go there every day, park the truck and walk and do nothing but write tickets all year. Apparently he said tickets have gone way up, like its costing a poacher 3 grand for a pair of poached walleye. Apparently hes seen some unreal things there. I guess with all that goes on in the country here there just cant be a presence all the time, so they knowingly have to walk away and know there is infractions they could be getting guys on,,,, but what do you do.. He said that the fall of last year they pulled nets to see what was going on, and they found that 40% of the walleye biomass was gone and has been killed...... They instituted a closure for night time fishing to try to protect the fishery, but it has done nothing.

How do you fellas like them apples. Yup, i would say its high time for some very serious changes. Fines arent enough, and it should be open season on poachers and fisheries and wildlife abusers,,, no matter how small the infraction.

Hope this is a better sourse than whoever told you about newell

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Good news,, time will tell i guess. I just spoke with one of my local game wardens in town this morning. I said I had heard a rumor that Crawling Valley was going to be opened this year for a limited walleye harvest, but that NON STOP YEAR ROUND POACHING had ruined it. He said and i quote here, ya, he could go there every day, park the truck and walk and do nothing but write tickets all year. Apparently he said tickets have gone way up, like its costing a poacher 3 grand for a pair of poached walleye. Apparently hes seen some unreal things there. I guess with all that goes on in the country here there just cant be a presence all the time, so they knowingly have to walk away and know there is infractions they could be getting guys on,,,, but what do you do.. He said that the fall of last year they pulled nets to see what was going on, and they found that 40% of the walleye biomass was gone and has been killed...... They instituted a closure for night time fishing to try to protect the fishery, but it has done nothing.

How do you fellas like them apples. Yup, i would say its high time for some very serious changes. Fines arent enough, and it should be open season on poachers and fisheries and wildlife abusers,,, no matter how small the infraction.

[packhuntr]

Troller, let me know if you want it, my phone # that is, . Im off from now till monday morning. Call me, show up, day, night, doesnt matter, just show up and we will go for a drive, if youd like to see what your refering to.

[merk1]

I am all for a province wide C&R on all species to help bring things back to what they were!

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Originally Posted by merk1

I am all for a province wide C&R on all species to help bring things back to what they were!

X 2
but catch and release isnt the answer.

[Okotokian]

Lots of smoke, no fire. I'll believe this is at all meaningful when the government starts hitting some big industrial polluters with big fines and clean-up and restoration bills without being pushed and hounded by the media and public. Does anyone here seriously think there would have been ANY action taken against Syncrude about the dead ducks if it hadn't been such a public and well-reported disaster?

[merk1]

Originally Posted by BIGBADJOHN

X 2
but catch and release isnt the answer.

John if you had the power what would you change to make things better. Just wondering what you think.

[Couleestalker]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Good news,, time will tell i guess. I just spoke with one of my local game wardens in town this morning. I said I had heard a rumor that Crawling Valley was going to be opened this year for a limited walleye harvest, but that NON STOP YEAR ROUND POACHING had ruined it. He said and i quote here, ya, he could go there every day, park the truck and walk and do nothing but write tickets all year. Apparently he said tickets have gone way up, like its costing a poacher 3 grand for a pair of poached walleye. Apparently hes seen some unreal things there. I guess with all that goes on in the country here there just cant be a presence all the time, so they knowingly have to walk away and know there is infractions they could be getting guys on,,,, but what do you do.. He said that the fall of last year they pulled nets to see what was going on, and they found that 40% of the walleye biomass was gone and has been killed...... They instituted a closure for night time fishing to try to protect the fishery, but it has done nothing.

How do you fellas like them apples. Yup, i would say its high time for some very serious changes. Fines arent enough, and it should be open season on poachers and fisheries and wildlife abusers,,, no matter how small the infraction.

I understand that F&W are under staffed and have limited budgets, that being said, I have fished Crawling Valley, Lake Newell, Rock Lake, Badger Lake and numerous other small irrigation reservoirs both in winter and summer and have yet to be checked by the wardens. I also bow hunt, rifle hunt and waterfowl hunt around Brooks and have not seen the presence of F&W. I do however see their trucks parked at there houses all the time. I did not see one officer on Lake Newell during the Derby (Only five spots people could fish, not that much area to cover). They could have at least made a presence, talked to poeple and educate some people.

I found one of the Antelope poached this past summer (a nice buck non the least). I called it in to F&W and talked to an officer in the office and still it took them 4 hours to get out there. I was surprised tha the animal was still there.

Not sure how they expect to stop the poaching if they're not in the field.

Just my thoughts

[packhuntr]

I hear ya Coulee,, we talked about that this morning too. Apparently they hired 20 full time officers last year, and this year they are going to be looking for 20 more. Even still, with 40 more, most detachments are looking after areas that are so big in size with litterally no man power, they dont have a hope in hell of making much of a difference. There are poachers everywhere, even on this AO message board. How do you combat something this big and problematic?? About the only way that i know of is self policing. Dont talk about that on here though,,, the flesh hunters attack in droves saying its their right, the laws say so. How many of these people are indeed poachers themselves?? The poachers are coming from somewhere,,, they live in Alberta. I know for sure there are poachers in the Brooks area just like you know there are,,, the problems arent exclusively in this District either, its huge, and its everywhere.

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Troller, let me know if you want it, my phone # that is, . Im off from now till monday morning. Call me, show up, day, night, doesnt matter, just show up and we will go for a drive, if youd like to see what your refering to.

Been there buddy

Nice round about threat though, I laffed

[Sbrooks]

Bait chunking poachers BEWARE!

[The Anvil]

As a chef and avid fisherman I do support poaching..... IF IT IS EGGS IN A FRYING PAN!

Before I rant, just want to get it clear that I am not prejudice...just stating an ongoing ignorant bs of an excuse...
One thing I am freaking sick of is all of these "outsiders" who come into Alberta and Fish on Alberta lakes who give the line "uh no speak english" and then you realize... Oh their lack of the ability to speak English is due to the fact that they have been poaching. And they have a few illegal fish frozen on the ice.

Then the next thing you know the freaking SOB's suddenly speak English pretty darn well when you catch a decent sized fish.

I caught a guy and some buddies harvesting pike and walleye out of Lac Ste. Anne this year, there is a 0, ZERO limit on both those species........I made a call to report a poacher cause I am SICK OF IGNORANT BASTARDS ruining it for the rest of us Law abiding fishermen......and 3 hours later the fish cops finally show up but the poacher and his three "non English speaking loser pals had left"

They had left with a total of 10 pike ALL under 63cm and illegal to keep ...as well they took 15 walleye. I know this cause I offered them some info and handed them the regs in which the one guy replied "I don't English" and laughed at me... and refused the regs......and asked them how they did and just walked over to their fish stock pile....... they were more than happy to show off and tell me that "fish good, we come every day, cook in pan, salt, pepper"

Weather or not they got busted is another story... I gave the C/O a detailed description and a license plate number so he could investigate...

his response to me was Well there is nothing I can do I have to catch them in the act.

[hockeyfish]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

Troller, let me know if you want it, my phone # that is, . Im off from now till monday morning. Call me, show up, day, night, doesnt matter, just show up and we will go for a drive, if youd like to see what your refering to.

making threats over the internet eh? i heard you really screwed up on that lake newell thread

[packhuntr]

A threat,, read the post, it says nothing of the sort! And what the hell are you talking about, i really screwed up on a thread, boy theres a good one. If you have nothing good to add to a discussion, go back to playing with your toys kid.

Edit,, you two pair of intelectuals are smart enough to type, so im going to assume that you can read and know what i was talking about eh?? If not, i will say it veeeryyyy slowly,, Come on by and we will go for a drive,,,,, and see what an island looks like thats been sh*t kicked by machines......

[QIsley]

1) A CO (Conservation Officer) is a person employed by Provincial Parks.
Fish and Wildlife Officers are not CO's, we are employed by Sustainable Resource Development. If you guys don't know the difference who does? For a brief period of time we were in the same department and were all called Conservation Officers (2000-2002). That is now longer the case.

2) There are about 115 Fish and Wildlife Officers in the entire Province of Alberta, the same number of officers that we had in 1980.

3) Officers trucks are only parked at the house if they are on Standby. (maximum 8 days per month)

4) When I am on Standby I take calls for the entire area I work in, including the districts of Stony Plain, Barrhead, Swan Hills, Whitecourt and Fox Creek. Total number of Fish and Wildlife Officers in this area, 8.

5) I work in the Stony Plain District, we have 2 guys, the County of Parkland has 9 by-law officers for roughly the same area, our district is a bit bigger....

6) In addition to conducting fisheries compliance work we handle a variety of other matters including, wildlife compliance, injured animals, human wildlife conflicts (from Bats to Grizzly Bears) , found dead wildlife, commercial fisheries, issue permits, monitor taxidermists, meat cutters, answer questions, attend meetings, attend court, keep up on training.... and do paperwork......

8) You see something illegal..suspect that something is illegal, report it, with as much detail as possible, we will catch up to them. I'm not always able to respond to these complaints as fast as I would like to but we try.

Thanks for your support, the resource needs it....

Call your MLA and support this bill.

[merk1]

[QUOTE=QIsley;269508]1) A CO (Conservation Officer) is a person employed by Provincial Parks.

2) There are about 115 Fish and Wildlife Officers in the entire Province of Alberta, the same number of officers that we had in 1980.

I think that is just a joke, how do people expect you to be everywhere, stretched pretty thin. We need alot more of you to make a difference, I follow every rule in the book, and hate and will report anybody not following them.

[Chris K]

Originally Posted by merk1

I am all for a province wide C&R on all species to help bring things back to what they were!

This is not a solution to any of our fishery problems. Many of our lakes are a mess right now because of C&R regs. We need the fisheries to be managed for more than just catch rates, and I don't think that with the walleye regs that were adopted in the 90's there was much long term though (15 + years) of what their management practices would do with fish that take 7 to 8 years to reach spawning size. Look at many lakes and the pike sizes too where walleye are closed to retention. Take into account as well how people in this province want to keep fish, and the government funnels everyone to a few lakes, and the year classes of larger fish get removed in a hurry. Many of the forage bases are destroyed, and the lakes biomass is full to the gills of skinny fish, that keep reproducing. Chris K

[ICE HOLE]

This is all well and good but when is the Alberta Government going to raise the price of a fishing licence for out of Province fishermen like BC and Saskatchewan have? The additional funds could then be used to inhance our fisheries and help to replace the fish taken by our neighbours to the east and west of Alberta. The class water surcharge in Southern BC has put additional pressure on Alberta fisheries. Take a look around the take-out points on the Bow River and you'll me amazed at the number of BC plates belonging to BC guides and their clients. I am not advocating anything as stupid what BC did but something has got to be done to protect our fisheries for coming generations of Albertians

[QIsley]

Getting back to the point of the discussion here is an example of a creative sentence issued in a Wildlife Case (similar provisions already exist in the Wildlife Act). This bill would allow Judges to impose similar types of orders in respect of Fisheries Offenses in addition to monetary fines.

In addition, Judge P.G. Sully imposed a Judicial Order made pursuant to Section 97 of the Wildlife Act, which requires the Nearys to report to the Wetaskiwin Fish and Wildlife District office the following for a three-year period after the licence suspension expires:

*Documentation as to their residency;
*A detailed description of where hunting activities will commence;
*The date that hunting activities will start and cease for each year of this Order;
*The location or locations where each may reside while hunting activities are carried out;
* Provide the name, phone number and address of the designated “Hunter Host” or “Guide Outfitter” that each shall hunt with for each year of this Order’s duration;
* Report to an appropriate Fish and Wildlife officer the harvesting of any wildlife within 72 hours of the harvest;
*Report and produce for inspection if requested, any harvested wildlife that either plans to remove from the Province of Alberta within 48 hours of the transport.

For the complete details of this case go to.
http://gamewarden.ab.ca/archive/Summ...epartment.html

[deanmc]

Originally Posted by merk1

I am all for a province wide C&R on all species to help bring things back to what they were!

I would gladly pay double for a fishing liscense if it meant increased enforcement but if they imposed a province wide C&R i wouldn't need one cause I wont be out there.

[packhuntr]

I dont disagree, 100% C&R is not good in some situations,,, especially now. Read what Chris K wrote. But are you saying Deanmc that you refuse to practice C&R in areas where its deemed mandatory, and its proven to work for the application,,,, you will not go fishing unless you can keep fish?

[Hammer Handle]

I'm no more happy about the classified waters license in B.C than you are. I live in Fernie and I have to pay a $20.00 surcharge to fish a river that i've fished for 40 years because the guides in fernie pushed through some crappy law so they could take fishing pressure off the elk river. We already pay $36.00 for a yearly license which i have no problem with but let's get real that extra money is not going back into the fishery. As far as all the boats from B.C fishing your home waters we're all canadian residents and we should have the right to fish where ever we want in the country. I can go down to the launch in Fernie on any given day in the summer see numerous trucks from Alberta I have no problem with this they have as much right to fish there as i do as long as the regulations are followed. My intent is not to start a battle on the board but that post really got under my skin. One last thing that should be said is I do agree with you about the licenses we should have to pay more for a license than an Alberta resident does when we come fishing in Alberta.

[deanmc]

Originally Posted by packhuntr

I dont disagree, 100% C&R is not good in some situations,,, especially now. Read what Chris K wrote. But are you saying Deanmc that you refuse to practice C&R in areas where its deemed mandatory, and its proven to work for the application,,,, you will not go fishing unless you can keep fish?

No I agree with c+r with certain species in lakes that need it. I have been pinching my barbs long before it was law to do so. I am just saying if I was never allowed to keep any fish anywere I would not be interested in fishing.

[DoUCWhatIC]

Seems to me that creative sentencing would have a serious deterent value, as it has with wildlife. I'm going to contact my MLA and voice my support for this bill.

[uicehole]

Cranking up the penalty is only part of the answer, the other major deterent is the risk of being caught. It's fine that we can complain we don't have enough officers but realize that out tax dollars can only go so far. Voters have a pretty good influence on how the pot's divvied. Health Care sits pretty high, there's roads, infrastructure, school, the list goes on. For the average Albertan, how important is fish and wildlife? Pretty sad I say. And too bad our fish licence revenue doesn't go directly back to F&W - don't get me started on this topic.

Oh, I can vouch for packhuntr's CV story, it's true.

And let's cut the crap about all the foreigners being the blame. It's easy to blame others when times are bad - the foreigners took our jobs, the foreigners took our fish, the foreigners took our wildlife, the foreigners keep winning my lotto (well Ontario). Hmm, dare I say Hitler might have done some thing similar? Let's look in the mirror and ask ourselves if we've contributed to the problem. Sure it's our god given right and within the law to keep up to your limit but I think we need to self regulate a little here. The limits are written with the expectation not everyone can/will bonk their entitlement. These limits have historically been behind the what the resource could bear as want outstrip what can be produced and managed. More and more people are fishing, and the old saying 10% of the fishermen catch 90% of the fish no longer hold true. We are armed with high-tech rods and reels, sonar, camera and yes, knowledge gleaned from this forum - we are a very efficient predator. The future of our fisheries don't stand a chance if we don't do some self regulating until the limits and other management strategies catch up to the current state of affairs. And it likely never will as there will always be a vocal crowd of meat fishermen (voters).

Lastly, I have to admit I'm far from being a saintly C&R guy so no one better accuse me of being one. C&R isn't the answer but we need to be wise in when and where we choose to bludgeon in the poor fish's skull regardless of our entitlement.

Sorry about going off on a tangent so YES I support this bill.


Cheers