Stewardship License Program Discontinued

[midgetwaiter]

The official announcement came out today, they are shutting down the Stewardship License Program. I'm more than a little disappointed but based on the data presented at the information session last week there was nothing indicating the brook trout removal was facilitating recovery of the other species.

I'm curious what some of the other participants think about this turn of events.

Dear Trout Unlimited members,
Initiated in 2009, one of the goals of the Stewardship Licence Pilot Project was to assess the use of angling as a potential method to reduce non-native Brook Trout and Rainbow Trout populations to facilitate the recoveryof native Cutthroat Trout and Bull Trout populations. Additional goals were to increase angler awareness and appreciation of native species, and to educate anglers about fish identification.

Since 2009, several participants were issued Stewardship Licences in various east slopes streams, and regular data reports and summaries were produced. Following an evaluation of the project undertaken by Environment and Parks staff in 2016, our assessment is that native fish species education and improved salmonid identification were successful outcomes that resulted from the project. Alberta Environment and Parks plans to incorporate knowledge learned throughout this project and is investigating additional methods to deliver this important messaging.

A rigorous, peer-reviewed assessment was conducted based on long term data collected at Quirk Creek. While the Stewardship Licence Project was successful in reducing the Brook Trout population in Quirk Creek, this has
not resulted in a corresponding recovery of native Cutthroat and Bull Trout populations despite the intensive effort expended. In addition, because native trout species are more vulnerable to angling, fisheries managers
are concerned that the focus and duration of angling effort resulting from the project has had the unintended consequence of increased incidental hooking mortality for these vulnerable species, thereby increasing risk to
their populations.

While considerable effort and money has been invested in the program by the Government of Alberta, Trout Unlimited, and participating anglers, the objective of recovery of native trout populations has not been met
and has increased the risk to native species. As a result, the Stewardship Licence Pilot Project will be discontinued. The project has resulted in a valuable increase in knowledge that will inform future recovery
actions for Westslope Cutthroat Trout and Bull Trout, which are currently being considered by Environment and Parks.

Thank you for your past support of the Stewardship Licence Pilot Program. Your involvement and commitment to this program are recognized as being an important contribution to fisheries management in Alberta.

Kind Regards,
Paul Christensen, Senior Fisheries Biologist, Bow District

Original letter here:
http://files.ctctcdn.com/c37eef03101...7ff8e36816.pdf

[chucky]

I saw that email. I am a bit disapointed because it was great fun to take part in the program and was looking forward to another year of hunting brookies. Saying that, they have a point about the question of effectiveness of the program regarding the recovery of native species -which was one of the main goal.
Maybe it was worth carrying it a bit longer to have data over a longer period , but i'm not a scientist and don't have their precise knowledge to make that decision. Maybe they'll keep monitoring the species count and bring back the stewardship license in a few years?

It was fun while it lasted!

[rycoma]

What bothered me about that is that they only used data from Quirk creek and not the rest of the data. I for one have seen a vast improvement on Waiprious creek. I hardly catch any brookies if any at all. If I do they were in the 2 to 3 inch catagory. There are so many cutthroat in there now it is almost to easy. Regardless of the governments decission the best part of the program was the emphasis of spiecies identification and education. Too many times we have been out fishing and people are keeping incorect speicies or don't even know what they are doing. I am saddened by this and was looking forward to letting my sons do this. I will miss the program and the education it provided. I will still do my part to inform others on non native spiecies and ways to identify the trout of Alberta