Fish Caught Up Creek After Floods

[zuggbugg]

Good work from Parks Canada.

 

http://calgary.ctvnews.ca/fish-caught-up-creek-after-floods-1.1384067

[Taco]

I thought the Parks were about restoration and preservation of native species. A lot money and effort being spent on a species that got a foothold in the upper Bow via a broke down hatchery truck

[DonAndersen]

Taco,

 

The pictures showed only whitefish although commentator mentioned a very large fish which could have been either a bull or a laker.

The program is apparently being funded by Transalta who opened the flood gates in Minnikanka for the first time in many years. The generator located @ highway #1 was being flooded and it looks like they needed to dump the water somewhere. The generator is being repaired which means the flood gates will close stranding the fish and ultimately killing them.

 

Transalta is being "really good" with dams after a rumoured brown trout kill below the Brazeau dam. The kill info is being kept really quiet. No idea why. Little info is available.

 

 

Don

[Ricinus]

Taco,

 

The pictures showed only whitefish although commentator mentioned a very large fish which could have been either a bull or a laker.

The program is apparently being funded by Transalta who opened the flood gates in Minnikanka for the first time in many years. The generator located @ highway #1 was being flooded and it looks like they needed to dump the water somewhere. The generator is being repaired which means the flood gates will close stranding the fish and ultimately killing them.

 

Transalta is being "really good" with dams after a rumoured brown trout kill below the Brazeau dam. The kill info is being kept really quiet. No idea why. Little info is available.

 

 

Don

Gee, I can't see this happening given how open our Government is.. (Eyes rolling skyward)

 

Mike

[BBBrownie]

That would be a hell of a shame if there was in fact a brown trout kill on the Braz. Don, where did you hear that info? I grew up in the Drayton area and haven't heard anything suggesting a brown kill?

[Harps]

Really, nobody knows about it?

The complaint was sent into DFO and SRD last fall by local fly anglers, some of which are on this board.
it's likely those anglers weren't happy about the whole thing and the response, so I'm suprised others weren't told?

[treeplanter]

I thought the Parks were about restoration and preservation of native species. A lot money and effort being spent on a species that got a foothold in the upper Bow via a broke down hatchery truck

I agree. Lets get Charlie and his posse on a trail crew fixing bridges in the backcountry (as if).

[DaveJensen]

Re: the Brazeau. A fellow I know posted on FB after being pissed off that he couldn't get anywhere with DFO, etc with his photos. I took the photo of a BONE DRY Brazeau R and his report to folks I know through DFO and F&W, who promptly took action on investigating what exactly happened. I have another fellow who I know that was there at the time - the trouble is that he's a good friend who was actually on site, working on the dam, who substantiated the fish kill but whose info I couldn't use to further prove the fish kill story for fear of losing his job (wife + 2 little kids). Bottom line, while the investigation stopped at not being able to substantiate the claim, but anyone with 1/2 a brain in his head would know that to be the case when that river was bed rock, bone dry for at least 1/2 a day. But procedure is procedure. The good news is that the process wound up seeing a commitment from the company to put time & $ into studying fish use, fish movement, spawning locations, etc below the dam. There will also be ramifications of this into the flow regime, finally. This is something that the Ab gov hasn't bothered to do in all these years because it's apparently too difficult for them to justify putting $ into a river that is 'so hard to get to' and 'so few use', though the jet boat, raft, and wade traffic through there can be high at times. It's a good news/bad news situation.

[BBBrownie]

Really, nobody knows about it?

 

The complaint was sent into DFO and SRD last fall by local fly anglers, some of which are on this board.

it's likely those anglers weren't happy about the whole thing and the response, so I'm suprised others weren't told?

[DaveJensen]

Riley, you've missed the key point: there were no legally enforceable min flows. As Pepe Le-pew would have said "Les ooops". That is why the good news coming out of this will likely include min flows, etc, as I stated above. Everything you, I, and pretty much everyone else has ever stated (ie - common sense) is bang on, and it's time TA does what's needed.

Cheers

[DonAndersen]

RileyS,

 

There was a reference to the kill if I recall correctly in the April 2013 Fisheries Roundable Minutes. The reference mentioned talking to John Tchir of ESRD in Rocky. For some reason the documents have been removed from the Govt website.

 

Regards,

 

 

Don

 

[BBBrownie]

Riley, you've missed the key point: there were no legally enforceable min flows. As Pepe Le-pew would have said "Les ooops". That is why the good news coming out of this will likely include min flows, etc, as I stated above. Everything you, I, and pretty much everyone else has ever stated (ie - common sense) is bang on, and it's time TA does what's needed.

Cheers

 

 

[BBBrownie]

RileyS, There was a reference to the kill if I recall correctly in the April 2013 Fisheries Roundable Minutes. The reference mentioned talking to John Tchir of ESRD in Rocky. For some reason the documents have been removed from the Govt website. Regards, Don

Don, I think maybe its been removed, I regularly read the round table minutes and have seen no mention. somehow I missed this. I'll dig around and see if I can find it.

[DaveJensen]

"Did Transalta have a blanket approval or exemption that had no operational conditions attached?"

Yes.

I agree with everything you said, which is why I followed it through to where it is, which is better than it was, but it still needs more:

Now here's the best part of everything for the Brazeau and something I pushed hard to clrafiy because nobody in the fed or provincial gov was willing to divulge: TA has the only water flow monitoring station. Add 2 & 2 and you quickly realize the reason the gov had no idea the flow was zero was because TA didn't disclose it to them. In follow up I discovered the fat kid was protecting the cookie jar and there was/is no plan for the fat kid not to continue to do so. What really needs to happen once min flow is legally established, is a gov monitoring site so schleps like us can do what we all do - follow it because we love knowing what's going on. That is something that needs to be followed up to establish and is crucial. You'd think a PR person somewhere would figure that one out.

[DonAndersen]

Dave,

 

Isn't the real question is why ESRD and Dept. of Environment from Alberta and Fisheries & Oceans Canada did nothing?

Are the above agencies responsible?

Clearly something needs to be done to kick the Govt agencies into action.

 

 

Don

[DaveJensen]

Don - agree!

I called and called and called DFO offices in C & E. Literally after 15 calls and emails, I got no reply until 5 months later, receiving essentially a 'please mind your own business' email from DFO.

The ESRD folks are hiding behind the prov-fed issue. They can't / don't want to do a thing except in the case of fish kills and unless there is strong, directly involved evidence (pictures) then there is nothing they are willing to do.

The folks that care about the Brazeau don't want the river inundated with anglers chasing the few big browns as new company on the water just to be able to protect the river from not having water through a PR campaign that brings the issue to light and why anglers should care. Folks pay attention to the fall-out from things like that and simply don't want to draw attention to places that can't take the pressure. Has anyone figured out the equation for this stuff yet?

 

Now, back to the original response I made ^ in the thread, there are some good things happening regarding fish studies if they indeed follow through. I was approached by a few techs/bios at the spring prov RT and told these things were going to happen, as well as thanked for following as hard as I did to get some attention. So, thanks to the other fellows, we were able to get that much done, which is a positive step given how archaic things are in the dam industry with TA.

 

You have to start somewhere and thankfully, fish are generally a renewable, living resource -> we all have to remember that.

[DonAndersen]

Dave,

 

Obviously, both levels of Govt have demonstrated thier competency to protect our fishery.

 

So the question becomes: How does one acquire a Govt agency that is compentent?

 

Don

[DaveJensen]

Enter the echo, eh?

As you & I know, at the point of an unreturned tele call to DFO, 99% of folks would have given up. Trying to get their attention past that to change gov or policy, I think there would be plenty of checked out, empty stares.

I miss Martha Kostuch. I thought of her a lot as I was trying to get through. I thought back to the Tay R case and knew that she'd have done likewise to get things very much ramped up. It was, and likely remains, a case that would have national ramifications given where things are at with various Acts and processes.

It's one thing to battle industry. It's completely another when it's the actual governing bodies in charge of process that are so completely incompetent and hamstrung by their own policies and procedures, especially when they themselves put the operating guidelines in place to begin with.