Alberta’s River and Stream Fisheries: North Saskatchewan River Watershed: What was, is, and will be… Michael Sullivan Cold place Fisheries Management Branch (low sustainable harvests) Habitat changes (declining capacity) Many anglers (heavy pressure) Successes: understand and communicate key issues / trade-offs Michael Sullivan Fisheries Biologist, Alberta Fish and Wildlife Presentation to NSWA Fish Forum Edmonton 25 Sept 2014 David Thompson “I afterwards travelled much with him, and have now only to speak of him with great respect, or, I ought to say, with admiration... No living person possesses a tithe of his information respecting the Hudson’s Bay countries... Never mind his Bunyan-like face and cropped hair; he has a very powerful mind, and a singular faculty of picture-making. He can create a wilderness and people it with warring savages, or climb the Rocky Mountains with you in a snow- storm, so clearly and palpably, that only shut your eyes and you hear the crack of the rifle, or feel the snow-flakes melt on your cheeks as he talks.” John Bigsby, 1820, The Shoe and Canoe Lake Trout Mtn Whitefish Bull Trout Brookies Lake Trout Mtn Whitefish Bull Trout Bulls No road access Road access Sturgeon Goldeye “1977 was one of my best times as a fisheries biologist. I canoed right across Alberta on the Battle River, catching fish, talking to people, and getting to learn how a whole ecosystem worked.” “Locals told me how the big runs of goldeye were almost gone and how you could only catch decent numbers below Forestburg.” “It was really evident that things were going downhill, with big kills of pike in Driedmeat Lake, low oxygen levels in big chunks of the river, and listening to stories about the sad state of the river.” Dave Christensen Alberta Fish and Wildlife Dave Christensen 1978, Lacombe Lake As in past days, drinking, swimming, fishing in untreated river water is still normal in NSR headwaters Battle River June 2009 When will this be unacceptable? Battle River 2009 Beaver River 2010 42% White Suckers had lesions This is not normal! Elsewhere… Doherty et al. (2005). WQRJ Can. White suckers in St John River NB near pulp mills, hydroelectric, etc. “During this community survey, a significant number of white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) were captured with external lesions (4–12% occurrence in adults), identifying a potential area of concern in the river reach near the Beechwood hydroelectric facility, as lesions in the species are rarely reported” When will this be unacceptable? When will this be unacceptable? Headwaters protection? This is illegal Photos from Alberta OHVA website ??? Backcountry East Slopes When will this be unacceptable? south of Cadomin (Ruby Falls area, July 2005) Consequences of ineffective land use regulations Battle River, March 2010 Consequences of ineffective land use regulations Winter Oxygen Study: Battle River Feb/March 2010 Oxygen Levels Good (>6.5 mg/l) Few fish (3 – 6.5 mg/l) Dead fish (< 3 mg/l) Winter oxygen measurements along the Battle River (Feb., March 2010) and IBI scores of fish biodiversity from Stevens and Council (2008). Alberta’s Provincial Fish - Bull Trout NSR Headwaters Alberta’s Provincial Fish - Bull Trout NSR Headwaters Good news stories LKST returned! Still no where near recovered (probably <100 adult females), but hopeful 250 (2+) fish/mile = 400 fish/km 1.5 fish/acre = 3.7 fish/ha 20 / km 16 / km 12 / km 8 / km 4 / km Assume @ stratum = 250 km Good news stories O’Dell Spring Creek, Montana 47 cm brown (18.5 inches) Good news stories 800 O'Dell Spring Creek O'Dell Spring Creek (stocking experiment) North Raven 1973 700 North Raven 1985 Habitat work North Raven 1995 600 North Raven 2005 500 Similar densities to Montana spring creeks Large variation in recruitment (flow? water quality?) 400 Fish / km 300 O’Dell Spring Creek, Montana 200 100 3 3 1 8 2 1 47 cm brown 0 (18.5 inches) 8.9 - 25 25 - 46 >46 Size of Brown Trout (cm) 2 Livingstone River CPUE Crowsnest Pass Area So how are we doing compared 1.8 Dutch Creek CPUE Cutt Fishery to our neighbours? 1.6 Oldman River CPUE 1.4 (fish/hr) 1.2 effort 1 unit 0.8 per 0.6 Catch Montana quality angling 1.6 Crowsnest R. Rainbow Fishery 0.4 1.4 0.2 1.2 (fish/hr) 0 1 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Year CPUE (all size classes) effort 0.8 CPUE (fish > 300mm) unit 0.6 per Montana threshold for quality angling 0.4 Catch 0.2 0 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 Slot size limit Year Minimum (30‐40 cm) Bag limit size limit (25 introduced, bag redcued from 3 cm) limit reduced to 2 introduced from 5 to 3 John Nishi, Will Stelfox Bow River Alberta pipelines often old, potential for accidents Link to spill map Alberta walleye grow slow and spawn at old ages 10 = low sustainable harvests 9 8 7 6 N. Ontario 5 Walleye populations across US and Canada 4 GDD S. Ontario 3 Alberta walleye 2 lakes Wisconsin Tennessee 1 Age to 50% Female Maturity (years) 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 Growing Degree-Days (degree-days > 50c) from Baccante and Colby (1995) Good economy attracts fishermen Good economy attracts fishermen Alberta’s Fish Dilemma: 10 ha = maximum sustainable harvest of 3 (big) to 10 (small) walleye 10 ha = 20 – 40+ anglers How do we get 10 ha = 3 big walleye? 1) Estimate walleye numbers - Pop’n est and FWIN Buck Lake 2010 (2527 ha) 2) Objective: Stable or Trophy? - stakeholder decision Walleye > 43cm = 4.3/ha - trade-off between harvest and size of fish Objective =10/ha 3) Calculate Total Allowable Catch (TAC) - simple math Plan: recover, with some harvest - 5% (trophy or recovery-focus) - 10% (harvest -focus) TAC = 5% of pop’n = 0.2/ha (2 in10ha) TAC walleye >43cm = 543 fish Angler Effort at Buck (2008) = 20,000 anglers = must share each fish with 37 anglers % Success (walleye kept) Low ProductivitymeetsHeavyFishingPressure 20 40 60 80 0 Road-accessible Alberta lakes collapsed by 1990s SPENCER PRIMROSE KEHEWIN Success rateofanglers Restricted access Restricted TOUCHWOOD’84 Open access NORTH BUCK GREGOIRE BAPTISTE FLOATINGSTONE PINEHURST FRENCHMAN IRONWOOD AMISK SKELETON MURIEL GARNER MOOSE MOORE HILDA ETHEL COLD Edmonton Calgary Air Weapons Range Weapons Air TOUCHWOOD’89 Primrose Lake WOLF STE. ANNE Traditional (MSY) fisheries management had failed - minor changes seasons, bag and size limits in recreational fisheries - focused on single lakes with local regulations (but have hundreds of lakes) Precautionary strategy implemented (post-1996) Biologists collect data (= allowable harvest) Anglers decide on sharing (= regs) STATUS (Biologists) POLICY (Managers) REGULATION (Anglers) HIGH HIGH STABLE Moderate Harvest 43 cm Min. VULNERABLE Low Harvest 50 cm Min. YOUNG YOUNG MODERATE MODERATE TROPHY COLLAPSED Low Harvest No Harvest Catch & Catch & Release Release LOW LOW LOW MODERATE HIGH ADULTS Angler catch rates for catching walleye (Creel surveys at road-accessible lakes pre-1990s size limits, post - 1996 size limits) 2.5 2.0 1.6 fish/h MSY management (pre-1989) 1.5 Precautionary management (1996 - 2001) post – 2001 (1st -2nd generation walleye) 1.0 Catch/Hour 0.7 fish/h 0.5 MSY era CPUE goal 0.2 fish/h 0.0 Pine Cold Wolf Moose Pigeon Smoke Seibert Beaver Iosegun Baptiste L. Slave Pinehurst Shiningb. Growth-overfished stocks Recruitment-overfished stocks Siebert Lake Pike Fisheries 1971 (R. Makowecki creel survey) 1992 (F&W creel survey) 0.07 1971 1992 0.06 0.05 0.04 0.03 Angling CUE (kept/h) Angling CUE 0.02 0.01 0 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 Pike fork length (mm) Long-term trends in angler catch rates for catching pike 3.8 1.4 1969 (officer checks) 1980s (creel surveys) Harvest rates 1.2 1990s (creel surveys) 2000s (creel and FWIN) Total catch rates 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 Pike catch rates (angling) rates catch Pike 0.2 0 a Wolf Cold Hild Moose Kehiwin N. Buck IronwoodPinehurst Floatingstone FWIN PIKE CUE (or equivalent) 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.2 1.4 0 1 0 50 100 Amisk LakePike 150 2010 (63-100protslot) 2005 (63min) 1985 (nosize) 200 250 300 350 400 FL (mm) 450 500 550 Size limit 600 650 700 (Alberta Pike Management Plan1999,page vii) rates ofpike, butnotnecessarily large fish.” “Stable-Recreational Fisherv - to managed provide goodcatch FisheriesObjective: Management 750 when harvestkepthigh 800 850 Slot limitsfail 900 950 1000 Monitoring 2000 – 2012 = even simpler system practical HIGH HIGH STABLE 50 cm (or very large slot) province-wide Harvest A few lakes with tags Catch & Release No Harvest YOUNG YOUNG COLLAPSED MODERATE MODERATE TROPHY LOW LOW LOW MODERATE HIGH ADULTS Apply this simple, successful system to all fisheries (streams and lakes) Alberta’s Fish Report Card = Fish Sustainability Index - each species and 30 watershed gets scored - scores reflect fish status and threats - trends in score = success or failure - full public transparency of data and results Fish Sustainability Index (FSI) - On the surface Simple scores (1 to 5) Population Integrity Rigorous rule set (40 pages) (is the fish pop’n healthy?) 8 parameters Productive Potential (was it naturally weak or healthy?) 3 parameters Consistent Threat Mitigation Transparent (how much attention does it need?) 5 parameters Loss of Christina River Grayling Martin Paetz (former Fisheries Director) - in 1967, he went in to film a CBC film. He stood in one spot and got 33 grayling, all over 12 inches in less than an hour. - in 1987 he went back to the same spot.