SSR Fisheries variation order to temporarily close water bodies from high temperatures

[admin]

This comes from Fish & Wildlife Head Office:

NOTICE:

Effective August 11, 2015 the following waters have been closed to all fishing; due to high water temperatures, until further notice:

1. Sheep River from headwaters to Highwood River - includes tributaries and Gorge Creek;
2. Highwood River from headwaters to Bow River;
3. St. Mary River, downstream of the St. Mary Reservoir and tributaries;
4. Belly River, downstream of Secondary Road 800;
5. Bow River from Bearspaw Reservoir to the W.H.D. Weir;
6. Bow River from W.H.D Weir to the Carseland Weir;
7. Bow River from Carseland Weir to Highway 24 bridge;
8. Bow River from Highway 24 bridge downstream to Bassano Dam; and
9. Elbow River from Glenmore Reservoir to the Bow River confluence.

[smitty9]

Bump

[Lornce]

Link,
http://www.albertaregulations.ca/fishingregs/

[timsesink]

bump

[Sundancefisher]

Hello everyone, fisheries managers in the South Saskatchewan Region want to provide you with some up to date information relating to our ongoing concerns for fisheries in our streams and rivers in southern Alberta.

In early July, fisheries managers issued general fisheries advisories for safe fish handling in streams and rivers in southern Alberta due to concerns about high water temperatures and low flows in many of our waterbodies. A subsequent advisory was issued on Friday July 31, that detailed the growing concerns of fisheries managers at specific watercourses with regard to increasing stress to fish resulting from high water temperatures and low flows in many of our watercourses. As you may well know, stress to fish from high water temperatures can be exacerbated by angling and cause increased mortality rates even when great care is taken to minimize handling of fish and to release them as quickly as possible.

Over the past several weeks fisheries managers have been monitoring water temperatures at a number of locations in our streams and rivers in southern Alberta and we have considered these data in the context of the ability of cold water fish species to tolerate certain temperatures. Today we have issued variation orders to close a number of southern Alberta streams and rivers to anglers and we have updated our advisories to include additional rivers for which we have concern due to high temperatures and low flows.

The purpose of these closures is to ensure the long-term sustainably of our fishery resources in the South Saskatchewan River basin that are at high risk due to intolerable water temperatures, lows flows and higher risk of mortality to fish.

Stream closures are currently being applied to rivers and streams where our fisheries management objectives are for cold water fisheries and the species present cannot tolerate elevated temperatures. At this time, the species of concern include, Bull Trout, Westslope Cutthroat Trout, Mountain Whitefish, Rainbow Trout and Brown Trout. Stream sections where daily maximum temperature is routinely exceeding 220 Celsius (C) and or where the daily average temperature (over multiple days) is exceeding either 180 C (Mountain Whitefish) or 150 C (Bull Trout) will be temporarily closed. Information may be found at the following link:

http://alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=38...7D842C472EB896

Based on high water temperatures and a forecast of continued hot weather, temporary angling closures as of today (August 11, 2015) are implemented to safeguard fish populations until cooler water temperatures return at the following locations:

 Sheep River from the headwaters to the Highwood River (including Gorge Creek and tributaries)
 Threepoint Creek and tributaries
 Highwood River from the headwaters to the Bow River
 St. Mary River downstream of the St. Mary Reservoir & tributaries
 Belly River downstream of Sec. Rd. 800- River only
 Bow River from Bearspaw Reservoir to the Western Headworks Diversion (W.H.D. Weir)
 Bow River from W.H.D Weir to the Carseland Weir
 Bow River from the Carseland Weir to Hwy 24 Bridge(downstream side)
 Bow River from Hwy 24 bridge downstream to Bassano Dam
 Elbow River from Glenmore Reservoir to the Bow River confluence

Government of Alberta staff will be placing signs at angling locations to inform the public of these closures and using many other forms of communication through websites, social media etc. to provide information to the public. If conditions moderate and water temperatures recover to normal levels, angling closures will be rescinded.

It is expected that once closures are made, they will generally remain in place for a minimum period of one week. This will allow time for data collection, retrieval and analysis. Weekly analysis will also provide adequate time to determine if temperatures are trending sufficiently downward to warrant re-opening.

Please disseminate this information to your fishing friends and colleagues.

If you have questions or concerns please contact the Alberta Environment and Parks information center at:

Call Toll Free Alberta: 310-ESRD (3773)
Toll Free: 1-877-944-0313
Email: ESRD.Info-Centre@gov.ab.ca

Technical Questions may be sent to:

Paul Christensen Senior Fisheries Biologist – Bow District (Bow River and Tributaries)
Paul.Christensen@gov.ab.ca or 1-403-851-2149

Mike Bryski Senior Fisheries Biologist – Crowsnest District (upper Oldman, Crowsnest, Castle, Belly Waterton rivers) Mike.bryski@gov.ab.ca or 1-403-562-3373

Shane Petry Senior Fisheries Biologist – Grasslands District (Oldman, east hwy 2, lower Belly, St Mary rivers) Shane.Petry@gov.ab.ca or 1-403-382-4362

[huntsfurfish]

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[BobLoblaw]

Originally Posted by Sundancefisher

Stream sections where daily maximum temperature is routinely exceeding 220 Celsius (C) and or where the daily average temperature (over multiple days) is exceeding either 180 C (Mountain Whitefish) or 150 C (Bull Trout) will be temporarily closed.

220 Celsius???
You can catch yer trout ready to serve, 'cuz it's cooked already!

[smitty9]

220 Celsius = is 22 of course.

That's just a font and formatting thing. Of course the zero is supposed to be the superscript degree symbol.

[Sundancefisher]

Hello everyone,

Fisheries managers in the South Saskatchewan Region want to provide you with another update related to our ongoing concerns for fisheries in our streams and rivers in southern Alberta.

Last week, we issued variation orders to temporarily close a number of southern Alberta streams and rivers to anglers and we updated our advisories to include additional rivers for which we had concern due to high temperatures and low flow. Today, we are expanding the angling advisory to include all flowing waters in Eastern Slopes Zone 1 (ES1). Additionally, streams that were closed last week will remain closed, and we have issued variation orders to close several more streams and rivers.

Information may be found at the following link:

http://alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=38...C472E717711D5B

Streams that were temporarily closed last week, that remain closed to angling:

 Sheep River from the headwaters to the Highwood River (including Gorge Creek and tributaries)
 Threepoint Creek and tributaries
 Highwood River from the headwaters to the Bow River
 St. Mary River downstream of the St. Mary Reservoir & tributaries
 Belly River downstream of Sec. Rd. 800- River only
 Bow River from Bearspaw Reservoir to the Western Headworks Diversion (W.H.D. Weir)
 Bow River from W.H.D Weir to the Carseland Weir
 Bow River from the Carseland Weir to Hwy 24 Bridge(downstream side)
 Bow River from Hwy 24 bridge downstream to Bassano Dam
 Elbow River from Glenmore Reservoir to the Bow River confluence

New angling closures that are in effect as of today (August 14, 2015):

 Dogpound Creek and Tributaries
 Jumpingpound Creek from headwaters to the Bow River
 Little Red Deer River from headwaters downstream to Twp. Rd. 352 (Cottonwood Road) & tributaries except Dogpound Creek
 Little Red Deer River from Twp. Rd. 352 (Cottonwood Road) downstream to Red Deer River
 Waterton River, Upstream of Waterton Reservoir and all tributaries upstream of Waterton Reservoir including Drywood Creek
 Waterton River, Downstream of Waterton Reservoir - River only
 Castle River, Downstream of SH 507 to Highway 3 – main stem and tributaries, including Screwdriver Creek, Beaver Mines Creek, and Mill Creek
 Pincher Creek and tributaries
 Oldman River, from Hwy 22 downstream to Secondary Road 510 – River only
 Willow Creek, main stem and tributaries from Chain Lakes downstream to Pine Coulee Reservoir Diversion Head pond


Government of Alberta staff will be placing signs at angling locations to inform the public of these closures and using many other forms of communication through websites, social media etc. to provide information to the public. If conditions moderate and water temperatures recover to normal levels, angling closures will be rescinded.

It is expected that once closures are made, they will generally remain in place for a minimum period of one week. This will allow time for data collection, retrieval and analysis. Weekly analysis will also provide adequate time to determine if temperatures are trending sufficiently downward to warrant re-opening.

Please disseminate this information to your fishing friends and colleagues.

If you have questions or concerns please contact the Alberta Environment and Parks information center at:

Call Toll Free Alberta: 310-ESRD (3773)
Toll Free: 1-877-944-0313
Email: ESRD.Info-Centre@gov.ab.ca