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Old 06-03-2011, 03:15 PM
jstelfox jstelfox is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
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Default Stewardship Licence Pilot Project

Two years ago we initiated the Stewardship Licence Pilot Project and intentionally kept it low-key until we ironed out the bugs. A summary of the key data is attached. We are now able to increase exposure of this initiative, so that more anglers have the opportunity to participate.

If you want to help native trout populations, and like to eat brook trout, then this project is for you. However, before someone tries to misrepresent this project, I want to reiterate that the objective is not to eradicate brook trout from Alberta (which would be impossible), but rather to reduce brook trout populations in select streams where we may still have a chance to save the native cutthroat and bull trout populations from extirpation

STEWARDSHIP LICENCE — PILOT PROJECT — 2011

Project Objectives:
1) To remove, by angling, as many brook trout as possible from specified streams so as to facilitate a recovery of the native cutthroat and bull trout populations.
2) To increase public awareness about the importance of fish identification, to emphasize the difference between native and non-native fish, and to educate the public about the problems that some of our native fish face as a result of the introduction of non-native fish.

Requirements for Participation:
1) Anglers must pass the “Quirk Creek” fish identification test, which consists of 16 pictures of the above three species.
2) Anglers who pass the test, and who have never participated in the Quirk Creek Brook Trout Suppression Project, are required to participate in at least one supervised outing on Quirk Creek, before being authorized to harvest an unlimited number of brook trout from the following streams: Meadow, Margaret and Johnson creeks (tributaries to Waiparous Creek), Waiparous Creek, the Elbow River (upstream of Elbow Falls) and the Highwood River (upstream of Kananaskis Country boundary).
Project Background:
Brook trout are not native to Alberta, but are present in many waters along the Eastern Slopes as a result of extensive stocking of this species in the mid 1900s. Quirk Creek, a tributary of the Elbow River, contained only cutthroat and bull trout in 1948. However, by 1978, brook trout were well established in Quirk Creek, comprising 23% of the fish population. By 1995, brook trout comprised 92% of the fish population. If nothing were done and the trend continued, it is likely that native trout would have been extirpated from Quirk Creek, as has occurred in Bragg Creek. Bragg Creek, another tributary to the Elbow River, had a trout population comprised of 7% brook trout in 1955, 96% brook trout in 1979 and 100% brook trout in 1997. This is not an isolated situation, but has occurred, or is occurring, in many streams and rivers along the Eastern Slopes in Alberta, and in the United States.

Since the Quirk Creek Brook Trout Suppression Project was initiated in 1998, anglers have harvested over 9,500 brook trout from the creek. By 2008, the proportion of brook trout in the lower reach of Quirk Creek had declined to 30% and the biomass of cutthroat trout had increased to near record levels. If this approach can be successfully applied to reduce brook trout numbers in other Alberta streams, then it might be possible to save more native trout populations that are at risk.

Question - Why not let nature just take its course?

Brook trout become mature at a much younger age and smaller size and don’t live as long as cutthroat or bull trout. Therefore, brook trout don’t have the potential to grow as big as can cutthroat or bull trout. Furthermore, brook trout are harder to catch than cutthroat or bull trout. When man introduced brook trout into these watersheds, he upset the balance of nature. For this reason, man has a responsibility to try to restore the balance.

What is ultimately at stake is whether we pass on to our children and grandchildren:
1) a high quality, high-catch-rate fishery for native cutthroat and trout, or
2) an inferior fishery for smaller, less catchable, non-native brook trout.

If you would like to participate in this project, or have questions, please contact Jim Stelfox Jim.Stelfox@gov.ab.ca (403-851-2205) or Jenny Earle Jennifer.Earle@gov.ab.ca (403-851-2211) of the Fish and Wildlife Division, or Brian Meagher bmeagher@tucanada.org of Trout Unlimited Canada (403-209-5185).

Jim
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Old 06-03-2011, 04:41 PM
jstelfox jstelfox is offline
 
Join Date: May 2011
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To clarify regarding the above post, the harvest of brook trout in the Elbow and Highwood rivers applies to the river only, and not to the tributaries. There is no point in harvesting an unlimited number of brookies in Cataract Creek, as this stream was barren of fish upstream of the waterfall, so there are no native cutthroat or bull trout that to recover in Cataract Creek upstream of the waterfall. There are a small number of cutthroat trout in Cataract Creek upstream of the falls; however, these are the offspring of cutthroat trout that we stocked in the 1980s in a barren section of Wilkinson Creek upstream of the waterfall.

Jim

Last edited by jstelfox; 06-03-2011 at 05:07 PM.
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