Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Bullets
So, I'm not playing the devil's advocate but have a question....
In Alberta sturgeon fishing is closed and yet quite a few people still go fishing for them. The reason I am wondering about fishing for them is because in reading one of the Western Canadian Game Warden magazines it mentions that in the other western provinces with sturgeon closures they do not even allow people to rig up or target sturgeon.
So, why are alberta anglers fishing specifically for sturgeon while Alberta has a recovery program and there are no sturgeon licences issued? How are these sturgeon anglers truly helping the recovery program? Should sturgeon even be targeted?
Some may say catch and release is not that harmful to the fish but that is not the point. The point is sturgeon fishing is closed. It is not a catch and release season like Alberta has at certain waters for other fish species.
IMO we do need to show some constraint for the benefit of the fish, the recovery program and the possibility of having this fishery in the future. To me it seems sort of selfish of the anglers that specifically target sturgeon during this closure.
This is only my opinion but I think these questions could make for a good discussion on the forum. Not to divide us but to talk about it.
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Sturgeon used to be very plentiful. Once it was said the bottom of the NSR under the high level bridge was packed with them.
Using a circle hook catching sturgeon won't hurt the population.
However a thought would be to hatchery raise a huge pile from each drainage and boost the population.
Nice to see more...however last i heard the population was stable.
If you want a faster harvest fishery that won't happen. They take too long to start spawning.
As the population increases expect more and more fisheries to move to catch and release or tags as harvest is not sustainable otherwise.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...back-1.3649674
http://aep.alberta.ca/fish-wildlife/...-A-Oct2012.pdf