I just received a response to the letter I sent to the contacts provided here.
Here is my letter:
"Good afternoon,
I am writing to you regarding the North Central Native Trout Recovery program outlined on the Alberta Environment & Parks website. I have completed the survey that was provided, however I felt that this issue was important enough to reach out to you directly regarding my concerns.
I will start with a bit of background about myself. I am an avid fisherman, likely fishing over 100 days per year, who recently began fly fishing in the flowing water trout streams of Alberta. I also have a bachelors degree in Biology with Chemistry and Math minors. Like many in Alberta, I find myself working in the oil and gas industry.
I applaud the efforts of AEP to ensure that the native Bull Trout, Arctic Grayling, and Mountain Whitefish populations are sustainable. The loss of suitable habitat and change in water temperatures and pH have certainly caused the current populations to be in a difficult position. Where I strongly disagree with the program outlined by AEP is in the area of closing the proposed watersheds to all fishing for a period of 5 years. As you are no doubt aware, there are zero retention limits on both Bull Trout and Arctic Grayling throughout the province, making the contribution that angling pressure plays on the fish populations minute at best. An excellent example of this is in the trophy cutthroat fishery of the Upper Ram River system, as well as the grayling in the Little Smoky River system.
The far larger issue at hand is the over development of these headwater regions and logging of areas surrounding them. There has been extensive development in all of the proposed watersheds, leading to increased sedimentation of rivers through dust from roads and increased runoff from forested areas. This sediment has a significant effect on the viability of spawned eggs by the very species that AEP is purporting to advocate for. Logging of the areas around these rivers also contributes to increased water temperatures and increased runoff which leads to increased flood potential. The effect of livestock on the riparian zones of Alberta’s trout streams is severe and detrimental to all wildlife within these ecosystems. All of these effects are extremely detrimental to the native trout populations and none of them are a result of recreational fishing.
I implore you and the AEP to consider placing restrictions on the activities that are causing the most significant damage to these watersheds (overdevelopment of roads, logging, and access) instead of those activities whose effects on the watershed are minute and are already controlled. While this is no doubt more difficult and costly than simply shutting down fishing, it will actually contribute something towards the positive recovery of the native trout populations in these watersheds. Fishermen are the only stakeholders that actually have a vested interest in the protection of fishery habitat and fish conservation, yet they are the ONLY stakeholder that is being punished for the misuse by other stakeholders.
Other actions beyond limiting development that could be considered are as follows:
- Institute dry fly fishing only for these watersheds.
- Bull trout and mountain whitefish rarely take a dry fly, further limiting the possibility of catch and release mortality.
- Institute single hook regulations for these watersheds.
- Current regulations allow the use of treble hooks, as well as nymphing setups with more than one fly on the line.
- Shorten the seasons, further than they already are.
- Institute a “Trout Stamp” required to fish these waters, where the revenue generated goes directly to habitat reclamation for these watersheds.
- Similar to what British Columbia has in place for salmon.
Please also consider that shutting down these river systems will place increased pressure on other rivers in the area. If recreational fishing is truly having the impact that this program seems to think it is, this will only move the problem to another river system. Cascading the issue to another water body will not solve the basic issue, which is overdevelopment.
In summary, I am wholeheartedly against the complete closure of these fisheries, advocating for changes to the overdevelopment of the watersheds and other moderate limitations on fishing. Thank you for taking the time to read my perspective and thoughts. I would love to hear any comments of questions you might have for me.
Sincerely, "
Here is the response from Mike Blackburn:
"Thank you for your email on native trout recovery in Alberta. All three species of native stream trout in Alberta are now classified as species-at-risk. Causes for the decline vary by watershed, but the key factors are common; incidental catch and release mortality, poaching, habitat, and competition/hybridization with stocked species. You are correct that only dealing with a single factor, incidental catch and release mortality, will not restore all populations. Nor will ignoring a factor.
The North Central Native Trout Recovery Program (NCNT) focuses on addressing current habitat and angling-related threats as soon as possible, working within current Government of Alberta (GOA) policies. This includes working with regulators and road crossing owners to address problems with erosion and fragmentation at roadway stream crossings, and rehabilitating damaged riparian habitat resulting from extensive off-highway vehicle (OHV) use. In terms of roadway stream crossings, the GOA and Foothills Stream Crossing partnership have inspected over 8400 crossings and remediated 210. Additionally, extensive remediation is planned in the Berland River watershed as well as targeted remediation at key sites in the Clearwater River and Red Deer River watersheds in the coming years. An example of the GOA commitment to riparian restoration is the Rocky Creek OHV Trail Remediation Project, which included the reclamation of 20km of linear disturbance and 31 problem crossings affecting an important bull trout spawning stream. Similar projects in the focal watersheds are planned for 2018 and beyond. In addition to the NCNT recovery program, AEP Fisheries Management is working closely with AEP Approvals, AEP Compliance, AEP Recreation Management, Agriculture and Forestry and the Alberta Energy Regulator to incorporate native trout values into water withdrawal allocations, long-term Forest Harvest Plans, the Roadway Stream Crossing program and OHV trail assessment and remediation activities.
The NCNT program will be proposed as one strategy of many under the bull trout recovery plan (in draft). Other strategies in species’ recovery plans and regional plans will provide additional recommendations and implementation of actions relating to the long-term protection and restoration of fish habitat across Alberta’s East Slopes, with opportunity for stakeholder feedback outside of the NCNT program.
Our modelling indicates that catch and release incidental mortality can prevent the recovery of Alberta’s depressed stream fishes. When fish populations are collapsed, fishing effort can keep them collapsed even if hooking mortality is low. It is reasonable that this is a potential threat to trout, so we are acting to test that hypothesis. Empirical evidence and our knowledge of fishing pressure in Alberta strongly suggests that bait bans, barbless hooks, and single hook regulations are not expected to recover fish populations at risk within our lifetimes because high fishing pressure swamps out the effectiveness of these regulation changes. Therefore, recovery actions focus on addressing fishing effort (i.e., fishing closures) and not regulation changes (hooking mortality). If the proposed closures, in combination with habitat remediation, fail to result in population-level responses, we will have acted and learned valuable information that we will incorporate in future decisions.
The empirical evidence to date suggests that trout populations at high abundance can easily sustain angling pressure. Ram River cutthroat is a good example. The evidence also shows that catch-and-release angling can keep depressed populations from recovering. Antler and Mary Gregg creeks (open to fishing) have not recovered, while the adjacent Wampus and Deerlick creeks (closed to fishing) are at high abundance, in spite of heavy forestry at the closed streams. The proposed actions in the NCNT program will add more information.
A substantial portion of rivers and lakes in Alberta’s East Slopes will remain open to angling, should the proposed short-term angling closures be implemented. Currently, 96% of rivers are open to angling across the East Slopes. If the proposed angling closures are implemented, 92% of rivers will remain open for recreational fishing. No further angling closures are planned. In addition, Albertans can enjoy a network of 79 stocked ponds and 52 northern pike, walleye, lake whitefish and/or perch lakes in Fish Management Zones ES2, ES3, and ES4 in addition to the many other opportunities across Alberta. Fisheries Management is also eager to develop partnerships to diversify and develop additional stocked ponds.
The watersheds included as part of the North Central Native Trout Recovery program were selected because fish populations in these areas have a high probability of recovering and they have been previously surveyed by Alberta Environment and Parks, Alberta Conservation Association or other agencies, such as the Foothills Research Institute therefore providing a good understanding of the current population status. As examples, fish populations in the Berland River were surveyed in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2017 and fish populations in the Clearwater River were surveyed in 1993, 2004, 2013, and 2017.
The fisheries management strategies of the past decades did not prevent the loss of Alberta’s fishes. Our new actions, techniques, and strategies are designed to answer “Why?” and test hypotheses to recover these trout. To that end, we are monitoring fish populations in the NCNT focal watersheds to detect change over time - in 2017, AEP and ACA conducted standardized backpack and boat electrofishing surveys in the following focal watersheds: Upper Red Deer River, Clearwater River, Lower Ram/North Saskatchewan River, Berland River, Kakwa River and Pinto Lake. The Pembina River fish population was sampled in 2014 and 2016. Our intention is to survey these watersheds multiple times throughout the life of the NCNT program.
If you would like to know more about the North Central Native Trout Recovery Program please visit
http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/...y/default.aspx
If you would like to help us recover native trout, please consider joining Trout Unlimited Canada’s mailing list at
https://tucanada.org/ to receive updates on how you can participate in upcoming fish habitat reclamation projects.
Thank you for your interest in native trout recovery,
Mike
Mike Blackburn
Fisheries Biologist- Upper Athabasca Region
Alberta Environment and Parks
Suite 203, 111 - 54 St. Edson, AB CAN T7E 1T2
Tel 780/723-8208, FAX 780/723-7963
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