Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

Total catch & release

3 (10.7%)

Catch & keep with a limit

20 (71.4%)

Slot fishery wher only fish between 12 & 16 inches may be kept

5 (17.9%)

Total Members Voted: 27

[newsman]

Not being sold on total catch & release fisheries; I am curious to see what the rest of you feel and would suggest to sustain our fishery?

[Reservoir Dog]

[searun17]

Well i don't think any one solution by itself is going to be the Saviour of our fisheries,catch and release on its own isn't going to make that much of a difference especially considering that the sportfishing total catch is a very small percentage of the total overall catch,if a fishery is in danger of collapsing i think shutting it down and trying to correct the problems with it are a better solution.Areas that i think that should be improved to sustain our fisheries are less urban sprawl in and around fish bearing streams and higher penalties to those that choose to constantly damage our streams ,ie gravel pits ,logging,also   there has to be better enforcement of the laws and higher penalties to all groups who choose to poach or break our laws regarding our fish stocks,what it comes down to is we are going to need a government that knows the issues and is willing to put enough money and effort into dealing with the problems that exist locally,far to many times in the past government decisions regarding our fish stocks have been made with out the proper knowledge or effort and were made with only political goals in mind,hopefully our knew gov will realize what the fisheries needs are and will proceed with the best interest of sustaining our fisheries in mind.

[Sterling C]

Which fishery in particular were you refering to?

Personally, I think that most of our quota's are very reasonable. The only thing I would like to see would be more catch and release lakes managed as trophy waters. Slot limits would be nice too on certain waters.

[Fish Assassin]

How about enforcements ?

[DragonSpeed]

I think the fishery for each watershed/water system needs to managed in and of itself, rather than as a blanket.  In some cases C&R may be necessary to promote stock return, while in others a managed C&K may be OK, based on fish levels.  Certainly to say that one type of fishery would be able to cover the needs of the very largely divergent ecosystems in this province would be naive.

[Spudcote]

I voted for slot fishing. Preverves trophy fish (given they are released properly), as well as a spawning population. Often the oldest fish are kept for the reason they are large, when the flesh is of a lesser quality. Restricting it to smaller fish (as in not trophy) would mean fish in thir prime are being taken, not the "babies" or the spawning adults. Once a fish has reached a certain length, it's off limits and is able to dedicate it's effort to creating more fish. This strategy of preserving larger larger fish would only work in "wild lakes" as the hatchery fish are sterile and it would kinda defeat the purpose. 

Obviously catch and release would still be encouraged, and there would be limits in the number of fish you can take within those measurements. This hadn't really occured to me as an effective strategy, but sinc eoyu brouhgt it up, I started thinking about it, and figured it would probably work.

Somthing to think about...

[newsman]

Now that we have heard from a few of you I will throw in my two cents. I like the idea of the slot fishery with a catch limit, first read about it in an article on the Yellowstone. wher it has been aplied it seems to work quite well at promoting large fish. Forgot about those sterile hatchery fish so some changes would need to be made there. I agree that there are some drastic changes that also need to made in relation to habitat and inforcement. I also agree that each ecosystem should be looked at differently. Having seen over populated lakes that should have open limits, over fished urban streams, and fish that have been C&R fished to the point of negaitively impacting their feeding patterns I know thing need to be done differently.

[Sandy]

I think the fishery for each watershed/water system needs to managed in and of itself
 Certainly to say that one type of fishery would be able to cover the needs of the very largely divergent ecosystems in this province would be naive.

seems like common sense to me, I would go further and say that some waters (river or lake) would benefit from a system of river keepers who could be under the guidance of a technician can spend the time improving habitat, observing/recording and reporting illegal activity from environmental abuse to poaching.

[grandpa]

All of these systems have their points but I can just hear the hue and cry if a management plan was written for each body of water with special regulations and limits for each body . The fishermen ( to be correct fishers ) would have the worst time trying to keep things straight in their minds . Imagine the size of document you would have for the Fishery Regs .Some jurisdictions are finding that they have travelled so far along this road they are having to rewrite their regulations to make them simpler and easier to understand  I actually prefer to keep one or two smaller fish as they are better eating and I do like fresh fish .I release the larger fish to help keep their genes in the genetic pool . I don't like strict catch and release because the odd fish is injured no matter how you try to avoid injuries .

[troutbreath]

Granpa you obviouly haven't fished in Ontario. I found their regulations are something you should read before you go, so no fishing time is wasted. The folks there don't mind except the ones from Minnisota.

[grandpa]

Thats the problem I have fished in Ontario and was a Conservation Officer there for over 32 years and retired going on for 16 years . When I started we had very straightforward and simple regulations which were in effect all over the Province .Then everyone had a favourite lake or river which required special treatment and the regs got more and more complicated . With all the diferences from one body of water to the next you almost have to check the regs each time you go out to keep out of trouble . In my travels across the country I have noted some other Provinced have run into the same problem and if you aren't local you might be on the wrong side of a bridge but thats a different problem . Ontario ( last I heard ) is one of the jurisdictions which is rewriting the regulations to make them a bit simpler . Sure hope they get it done soon .

[troutbreath]

Yea I couldn't believe the regs there (Ont.), fortunately I was with the fishing locals and they new the rules. I fish Alberta too and it isn't so bad with the regs.