In early February the M.D. of Bighorn presented “Living in the Natural Environment” at the Cochrane RancheHouse.
The evening first consisted of a presentation about food and farming by Roger Epp, who is a professor of political science at the University of Alberta. I missed this informative discussion but I didn’t miss the roast beef dinner that immediately followed. Epp was sitting beside me at my table and it was a pleasure talking with him. The main reason I attended this function was to hear professional biologist, Lorne Fitch, discuss his topic of the “Zen of Fish and Watersheds”.
The problem discussed is that native fish in southwestern Alberta are having a hard time coping with the changes we have done over the past century. The native fish he is referring to are the Rocky Mountain whitefish, the westslope cutthroat trout, and the bull trout.
These fish have been around for thousands of years but over a relative short period of time their numbers are dwindling, especially the cutthroat trout. The reason for the losses is the degradation of the habitat that these trout depend on to live and thrive. The building of dams and bridges over the years has caused irreversible effects to spawning fish and the food they rely upon.
The practice of logging close to clean trout water has also had a catastrophic result to their habitat. Heavy silt can enter the water and ruin spawning grounds that trout need to reproduce.
Another mishap that occurred many years ago was the introduction of such species as the brown trout, brook trout, and rainbow trout. To the angler these fish are great to catch, but in the scheme of things they have an impact to our native fish. For instance, rainbow trout and cutthroat trout both spawn at the same time in the spring and hybridization can happen.
Brook trout are out-competing cutthroats in their own waters because they thrive and multiply so quickly. I feel that getting rid of non-native species like the rainbow and browns won’t materialize but there is a movement of trying to get rid of brookies. Look at such projects as the Quirk Creek Brook Trout Suppression where over 9,600 brook trout have been harvested since 1998.
This has been possible through the stewardship licence pilot project giving anglers the chance to harvest as many brook trout as they want on select streams. I have had some interesting chats with fishing friends about this and to fully eradicate brook trout is an impossible task. I think brookies are fine in some streams and lakes but in other places, like the Elbow River and Waiparous Creek, I would like to see native cutthroat reclaim their territory.
An important note was made by Fitch that something has to been done to help our native fish and it is the habitat. He argued that simply putting in stricter fishing regulations such as a zero harvest on cutthroat and bull trout is not enough because their populations are still spiraling. I do agree with him but a zero harvest on bull trout had a positive effect on the spawning bulls in Smith-Dorrien Creek.
The numbers were down to 60 spawners in 1992 and after the regulation change their numbers have bounced back to over 1,000 spawners in the year 2000. It also helped that this creek is closed permanently to angling. Still, there is a problem and there are a few things we can do to help our watersheds and the fish that live in them.
Right now, what is the best alternative? Do you care and do you want what we have to last?
