Aeration of trout lakes may end

[Don Andersen]

Folks.

Due to a court case, open water holes left by anyone may result on manslaughter charges.
For that reason. the ACA is attempting to find a solution to aeration that will not create an open water pool.
The companies they are talking to either have expensive or untried solutions.

I reviewed the lakes that will be lost in the Rocky area alone.

To understand the problem, here is what is left

Birch - winterkill probable
Beaver - winter kill probable
Fiesta - winter kill complete
Ironside Pond - winter kill complete
Alford Lake - winter kill complete
Mitchell - winter kill very possible

Struble Lake - perched
Phylsis Lake - perched
Twin Lake - perched
Cow Lake - perched
Tay Lake - perched

Perched means the lake has been illegally stocked with perch thereby decreasing trout growth to near 0.


Leaving us with

Peppers Lake - tiny trout
Goldeye Lake - tiny trout
Fish Lake - tiny trout

Loss of the aerated lakes will hit hard.

I contacted Todd Zimmerling CEO of the ACA to find out what they intended to do. They are working with some companies in an effort to get some type of aeration systems installed. The ones Todd mentioned are costly and untried in Alberta.

So - put on your thinking caps - how would you aerate a lake w/o creating an open water pool?


regards,


Don

[kayaker]

Its Sec 263(1) of the Criminal Code. BC has currently stopped aeration.

[FlyTheory]

I am not joking when I say this but... Could sterile grass carp be the solution? I mean, a lot of oxygen depletion comes from vegetation decomposition. And although we are introducing these species into select lakes (maybe one to start off with for an test), the damage they may do is only short term if it is not successful.
You can say vegetation is a habit for aquatic insects, and this reduction will throw the ecosystem off for a bit in sure, but none of the stocked lakes are natural fish populations, so why not for an experiment.

I'm just bsing here so don't take my comment too seriously, but it's something to think about.

[Headdamage]

I had never heard of this before now:

Duty to safeguard opening in ice

263. (1) Every one who makes or causes to be made an opening in ice that is open to or frequented by the public is under a legal duty to guard it in a manner that is adequate to prevent persons from falling in by accident and is adequate to warn them that the opening exists.

[Mr Flyguy]

Just put up signs that are legible and clearly stated as warnings. If that fails, then Darwin wins again!

[SNAPFisher]

I've had my thinking cap on since yesterday

http://www.hark.com/clips/pbqrsvclsj...othing-happens

It is frustrating to think that this is actually being entertained. There is only so many ways to aerate a lake...that is an undertaking in itself. I'm all for better and more signage. I would say float a retrievable one in the open water itself but no doubt someone would go out to read the sign and fall victom anyways. I'm more hoping that once things calm down and some time passes that this idiotic notion will go away.

Just seems ridiculous when you think beyond our aerated lakes to ice fishing. So...the ones that leave multiple holes behind from their day fishing...say in later March when the holes do not refreeze...would be potentially liable? Maybe they should sue mother nature for taking away the "safe" ice every April. That'll teach her!

[GillieSuit]

Originally Posted by FlyTheory

I am not joking when I say this but... Could sterile grass carp be the solution? I mean, a lot of oxygen depletion comes from vegetation decomposition. And although we are introducing these species into select lakes (maybe one to start off with for an test), the damage they may do is only short term if it is not successful.
You can say vegetation is a habit for aquatic insects, and this reduction will throw the ecosystem off for a bit in sure, but none of the stocked lakes are natural fish populations, so why not for an experiment.

I'm just bsing here so don't take my comment too seriously, but it's something to think about.

The grass carp program in Alberta has been cancelled. DFO and the federal agriculture group have created a new introduced and exotic species act. The intent is to provide better control and legislations with respect to introduced exotic species. Its mostly targeted at the exotic invaders. However, grass carp show up in this legislation as prohibited. Therefore they are no longer available anywhere in Alberta and because the act is federal they are actually prohibited Canada wide.

[Don Andersen]

I have contacted Todd Zemmerling with information provided to me in casual conversations with others about systems that worked elsewhere.

1) at Spring Lake near Hythe, AB a vacuum truck on "blow" kept the lake alive over one winter.

2) a fellow fisherman told me of a "backyard engineered" aeration system utilizing a jet ski pump, a small motor Plus suction and discharge lines kept two lakes alive in Ontario. The equipment was featured on the Discovery network.

I also told Todd that pretty systems weren't gonna solve this winter's problems. Quick and dirty would. Leave the pretty designs to an engineering firm. Biologists are not trained for these type of problems.

Winter is coming - sitting and talking is just not cutting it.

I expect the ACA will deliver a competent action plan detailing both short term and longer term items to be presented at the Fisheries Roundtable. The plan must detail time lines and deliverables.

Further, ERSD similarly shares responsibility here. The loss of the aeration lakes are going to replaced with WHAT! After most of the local lakes being perched, there isn't a whole lot left. So I expect that they MUST PROVIDE AN ACTION PLAN to fix the lake trout fishery.

Failure by either the ACA or ESRD to deal with the issues in our trout lakes must result in some type of remedial action to one or both groups.

Regards,


Don

[Adwittoutdoors]

I pray to God that they figure something out. It would be a massive loss to our trout fisheries if they stop the aeration programs. Would be a huge waste of money.

[booboo74]

Can't we use the same method we use on land, fence the "dangerous" open hole area. Attached signs and floating device to each fence section so that should the ice melt all sections are retrievable.

[thethrax]

The whole topic reeks like a lame excuse to cut costs.. Aeration has occured for 100+ years without incident and all of a sudden its an issue? Read this http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/inde...howtopic=22984
Pretty sure they put up signs currently? To me thats adequate warning..

[Chief16]

Originally Posted by thethrax

The whole topic reeks like a lame excuse to cut costs.. Aeration has occured for 100+ years without incident and all of a sudden its an issue? Read this http://flyfishcalgary.com/board/inde...howtopic=22984
Pretty sure they put up signs currently? To me thats adequate warning..

I am assuming something did happen as the very first line of don's post is "due to a court case"

[yetiseeker]

PVC Pipe Aeration.pdf

How about using a simple air compressor and some PVC pipe with small holes drilled into it. You could run a section of PVC pipe without holes in it say 100 yards out into the lake. Then have another section of PVC with fine holes drilled into it that would allow a limited amount of air to escape - similar to a garden hose with a fine spray of water coming from it. The PVC pipe would be hooked up to an air compressor which would pressurize the system with air and release small amount of air down the section of PVC with small holes to regulate the amount of air escaping from it. The PVC pipe would need to be anchored to the bottom of the lake to hold it from floating to the top.

If this regulated air escaping was to be released into the water at say 20feet of depth, I think the air would naturally filter through holes in the ice similar to the natural carbon dioxide being dissolved in normal lakes. The air would be released to dissolve in the water, and I think the water would still freeze over solid if the section of PVC pipe distributed the air over a large enough area.

Tests would need to be conducted to see what amount of air could be released into the water that could naturally be filtered through the ice, while still allowing the water to completely freeze over, thus eliminating any open water.

See quick illustration for the picture I see in my head.

Not sure if this solution would really work, but food for thought for you all.

[SNAPFisher]

Originally Posted by yetiseeker

Attachment 112474

How about using a simple air compressor and some PVC pipe with small holes drilled into it. You could run a section of PVC pipe without holes in it say 100 yards out into the lake. Then have another section of PVC with fine holes drilled into it that would allow a limited amount of air to escape - similar to a garden hose with a fine spray of water coming from it. The PVC pipe would be hooked up to an air compressor which would pressurize the system with air and release small amount of air down the section of PVC with small holes to regulate the amount of air escaping from it. The PVC pipe would need to be anchored to the bottom of the lake to hold it from floating to the top.

If this regulated air escaping was to be released into the water at say 20feet of depth, I think the air would naturally filter through holes in the ice similar to the natural carbon dioxide being dissolved in normal lakes. The air would be released to dissolve in the water, and I think the water would still freeze over solid if the section of PVC pipe distributed the air over a large enough area.

Tests would need to be conducted to see what amount of air could be released into the water that could naturally be filtered through the ice, while still allowing the water to completely freeze over, thus eliminating any open water.

See quick illustration for the picture I see in my head.

Not sure if this solution would really work, but food for thought for you all.

Not a bad idea but more likely to work for a pond than a lake. We already have aeration stones that can get down to pretty fine air being dispersed. Better for ponds as well. The point of the current aeration is dispersed oxygen throughout the water column. Like air stones, PVC would likely just stir up the dead water at the bottom and send it up...which in turn would impact any good water left....

I'm no expert but that was my understanding based on the reading I did. By the way, did try air stones personally and seemed okay in small applications. It sure created stinky water the first year...

[Red Bullets]

How about a system that pumps the de-oxygenated water from the lake to a onshore oxygenation device and then pumps the O2 water back into the lake. These two lines (intake and output) could be installed from the shoreline which would leave the ice to develop normally. The O2 water would be released over the length of a pipe laying on the bottom or suspended to a decided depth. The water being oxygenated probably wouldn't compromise the ice like larger air bubbles.

[Exploits]

Wouldn't a court case come back to this ? If they have warning signs and barriers up and some jack***** goes through, I would think everyone's rear would be covered ?

[xtreme hunter10]

Originally Posted by Don Andersen

Folks.

Due to a court case, open water holes left by anyone may result on manslaughter charges.
For that reason. the ACA is attempting to find a solution to aeration that will not create an open water pool.
The companies they are talking to either have expensive or untried solutions.

I reviewed the lakes that will be lost in the Rocky area alone.

To understand the problem, here is what is left

Birch - winterkill probable
Beaver - winter kill probable
Fiesta - winter kill complete
Ironside Pond - winter kill complete
Alford Lake - winter kill complete
Mitchell - winter kill very possible

Struble Lake - perched
Phylsis Lake - perched
Twin Lake - perched
Cow Lake - perched
Tay Lake - perched

Perched means the lake has been illegally stocked with perch thereby decreasing trout growth to near 0.


Leaving us with

Peppers Lake - tiny trout
Goldeye Lake - tiny trout
Fish Lake - tiny trout

Loss of the aerated lakes will hit hard.

I contacted Todd Zimmerling CEO of the ACA to find out what they intended to do. They are working with some companies in an effort to get some type of aeration systems installed. The ones Todd mentioned are costly and untried in Alberta.

So - put on your thinking caps - how would you aerate a lake w/o creating an open water pool?


regards,


Don

Im a little confused...what retards decide to go onto a lake that has open water? Do we really need a law? Why not post a simple sign..." you fall in a drown, your an idiot...we take no responsibility"

[tallieho]

Believe it or not. ACA reported of 1 particular dip s--t falling thru an aerated lake on 3 separate occasions.My vote would've been,leave him in there leeches need food too..