Change Class B tags limit ?

[fishtank]

Went to fishing hole to pick up my class B tags got the tags and head out to the car and only saw 2 hangers so when back in to get another. , they said this year they are only 2 tags for class Bs. I always thought it was 3 , also they have lots of undersubscribed B and C. This year for lac st Anne .

[JohninAB]

What happens when politicians get involved. Politicians want more people to get licenses even though seriously undersubscribed. Common sense would be reduce number of licenses and issue more tags with each license.

Make it worthwhile to get a license. Let successful applicants keep say 6 fish per license.

[HuyFishin]

exactly why i didn't even buy the under subscribed.

hardly worth it anymore.

[Wes_G]

There was a survey that went out last fall about this. The consensus was that they would still release the same number of tags. Only they would draw more people and only give each person 2 now instead of 3 allowing more people the chance to harvest. I just buy the undersubscribed ones for Lac St Anne as there always seems to be some available anyway.

[Outdoorfanatic]

Apparently the Angling community voiced the desire for Class C tags at least on Pigeon Lake and eventually the entire province to be eliminated in favour of gaining more opportunity at bigger fish harvest. So AEP's proposal was eliminate Class C, but in an effort to mitigate the all the fishing pressure shifting to only Class A and B they decided to divide the tags up further. This way they accommodate more fishing harvest for least amount of priority points spent. However what isn't communicated effectively is that number one the population of fish smallest to largest is not a one to one ratio. So if you take all the small fish out of the equation for possible harvest then your only allowing the same demand for fish to apply to the big fish which are always the smallest portion of the over all population of fish. For example eliminating 1000 Class C doesn't equal gaining 1000 Class A and B allocations. So the number of Anglers stay the same but the fishing pressure on the breeding fish on the same water goes up. So last year on Pigeon Lake Class B was undersubscribed, now this year Class A and B combined for Pigeon Lake doesn't even amount to the total Class A allocation we had two years ago. So AEP for whatever stupid reason puts more pressure on breeding stock, and zero pressure on small eaters and forces us to spend more priority points and more money every year. Getting rid of Class C doesn't and never will amount to more opportunity on bigger fish.

[Jamie Black R/T]

Originally Posted by Outdoorfanatic

Apparently the Angling community voiced the desire for Class C tags at least on Pigeon Lake and eventually the entire province to be eliminated in favour of gaining more opportunity at bigger fish harvest. So AEP's proposal was eliminate Class C, but in an effort to mitigate the all the fishing pressure shifting to only Class A and B they decided to divide the tags up further. This way they accommodate more fishing harvest for least amount of priority points spent. However what isn't communicated effectively is that number one the population of fish smallest to largest is not a one to one ratio. So if you take all the small fish out of the equation for possible harvest then your only allowing the same demand for fish to apply to the big fish which are always the smallest portion of the over all population of fish. For example eliminating 1000 Class C doesn't equal gaining 1000 Class A and B allocations. So the number of Anglers stay the same but the fishing pressure on the breeding fish on the same water goes up. So last year on Pigeon Lake Class B was undersubscribed, now this year Class A and B combined for Pigeon Lake doesn't even amount to the total Class A allocation we had two years ago. So AEP for whatever stupid reason puts more pressure on breeding stock, and zero pressure on small eaters and forces us to spend more priority points and more money every year. Getting rid of Class C doesn't and never will amount to more opportunity on bigger fish.

Well said.

They always refute the claims smaller fish for eaters will work in Alberta. Stating that angler pressure is too high and fish wouldn't reach the protected age class.

Yet when they have a secondary tool (Tags) to managed angling pressure also, they still decide to place all the angling pressure on the, larger, more efficient breeders.