Stream Watch Report For Sw Alberta

[dryfly]

(Dave or ___ ... can you perhaps pin this post? Thanks.)

 

Hi all...been a while.

 

Last Friday I was privileged to accompany the Stream Watch Seasonal Enforcement Officer, Jeff Cox, on one of his routine stream patrols. We were on the Racehorse, upper OM, Livingstone and OM at the Gap. Most enlightening .. so I am sharing.

 

Below is a letter I wrote to Kevin Stalker an enforcement manger with SRD--it describes what we did and what happened.

 

This is a gallery of some pictures taken that day. Sorry no captions.

Photo gallery of random pictures..click View Show once there ...

 

This is one helluva program gang and we hope you wil pony up next year! Thanks to all who supported this program for SW Alberta this year.

l

Here is the letter I wrote to Kevin Stalker.

 

Clive

 

Kevin Stalker

Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Manager

Fish and Wildlife

Sustainable Resource Development

2nd fl Provincial Building

4919 - 51 Street Rocky Mountain House, AB T4T 1B3

 

August 19, 2008

 

Dear Kevin:

 

RE: Stream Watch in Southwestern Alberta

 

On Friday, August 15, I accompanied Jeff Cox, Seasonal Enforcement Officer, based out of Blairmore. I had asked to do a ride-along so I could take pictures and get a feel for a typical Stream Watch patrol day.

 

Jeff and I left the Blairmore office at approximately 9 AM and headed north up the FTR toward Racehorse. During the day, we scanned stretches of rivers and walked parts of the Racehorse, Oldman River in the Gap and downstream of the Gap, the Oldman up toward Dutch Creek, the Livingstone River near the confluence with the Oldman and the Northwest branch of the Oldman.

 

Throughout the day, we stopped to walk parts of the rivers where vehicles were parked and where Jeff knew good places to go in for a closer look. In the course of the day, Jeff watched several anglers from the security of the woods or cliff tops.

 

Jeff used a combination of walking and cruising to do his investigations. As he noted, there is little sense in walking 3 km of stream when there are no vehicles parked along several km of stream. On the other hand, when a vehicle is parked near a pool, Jeff always stops for a look.

 

Jeff chooses not to approach the angler/s directly at first but prefers to watch for a while without anglers knowing. This might include driving past for 200 m and then walking back to where the anglers are or are likely to be. He said he was getting a feel for where the good “beats” where and where the good vantage points were. In 2007, Andrew Gustavson had an opportunity to fly over most of the Oldman drainage with a fire patrol helicopter. Andrew marked all of the good fishing and potential poaching holes on a GPS. These data were subsequently downloaded to Jeff’s GPS which was donated. The combination of the GPS data and Jeff’s ground patrols has given him detailed knowledge of the drainage.

 

In all, he spoke with approximately 20 anglers throughout the day. Everyone who was actively fishing or had been fishing was asked to show a license and hooks were checked for barbs or bait. Even when infractions were not observed (most of the time), Jeff always asked if the anglers knew the regulations for that particular stream. Several anglers offered that they were pleased to be checked and thanked Jeff.

 

Two incidents required issuance of tickets. One person was issued a $200 ticket for using barbed hooks and a warning ticket. Another received a warning ticket. (The warning ticket versus a verbal warning ensures that the person’s name and infraction are registered in the database. Should they re-offend, the officer will know their history.)

 

The first incident exemplified the effectiveness of the combination of enforcement and education. It also showed Jeff’s sensible handling of the situation and good working rapport with the anglers involved.

 

The first incident involved four anglers fishing in the Oldman River in the Gap adjacent to the road. The anglers included a father with two teenagers (from north of Edmonton) and another adult male from Calgary. The father was fishing with a barbed, treble-hook (Mepps-type) lure to which a piece of dried worm was attached. It was apparent that the worm had not been attached to the lure that day. There was no evidence of bait containers. Both of the teenagers were using lures with barbed hooks. The fourth person was fishing with legal tackle. All were properly licensed.

 

There were technically four infractions to be dealt with, and all four could have resulted in $200 fines. Jeff considered that the two teenagers were fishing with their father and that giving them tickets might affect their angling futures and general attitude toward enforcement. Jeff decided to give the father a $200 ticket for angling with a barbed hook and also gave him a ticketed warning (meaning it is in the database) regarding the use of bait. Instead of ticketing the two teenagers, he had a chat with the young lady and gave her a “barbless” information package that included a barbless jig-head lure.

 

While Jeff was writing the tickets, the father spent the time debarbing all of the lures in his tackle box. Jeff also gave the group a copy of the Alberta Guide to Sportfishing Regulations—which they did not have. After being handed the tickets and chatting with Jeff, the father thanked Jeff and shook his hand.

 

This group apparently had no idea about regulations where they were fishing. Jeff and I felt that had they caught any fish in that catch-and-release stretch they would have killed the fish. We also speculated that they probably did not know how to identify a bull trout—and they were fishing adjacent to a hole where there are known to be bull trout.

 

It seemed to me that the situation was handled perfectly. The issuance of tickets was necessary because three people were fishing with barbed hooks. Yet it was not heavy-handed in any way. If four, $200-dollar tickets had been issued, that would have been excessive and no real learning would have happened. Everyone walked away happy. The one $200 ticket made a strong point and got their attention. More importantly, a lot of education happened in a mere 20 minutes.

 

The second incident involved an angler who had just walked up from the Livingstone and was not actually fishing at the time. Jeff asked to see his fly and it had a barb on it. He was given a warning ticket.

 

Many other anglers were asked for licenses and Jeff asked them about their knowledge of the regulations where they were fishing.

 

Jeff certainly seems to have the right attitude, approach and philosophy toward Stream Watch and angling regulations in general. The experience makes me feel that the time, effort and money of everyone involved with Stream Watch in Southwestern Alberta were well worth it.

 

...

 

Special thanks to Jeff and Andrew for giving me permission to ride along. It was a pleasure to spend the day with Jeff. I had a great day and have a better feel for the role of the Stream Watch officers and about enforcement and education in general.

 

I also want to thank Jeff for his dedication and wish him every success in the future.

 

This is program is effective in educating and anglers while ensuring regulations are adhered to. Members of the Stream Watch committee in Southwestern look forward to working with you and others in SRD to carry the Stream Watch program forward for the next several years.

 

Best wishes,

 

 

 

Clive Schaupmeyer

Coaldale, Alberta

[OneMoreLastCast]

Thanks for the Report Clive and the letter is excellent. Thanks also for taking the time to ride along, your efforts and time are much appreciated. It must have been tough spending the day on such beautiful waters without wetting a line.

 

I feel priviledged to have helped out this year and look forward to helping out next year as well, (although I haven't had a chance to get out for the W & W's yet....September is best on the Bow anyways Guys, don't worry).

 

Keep up the Great Work Clive and all involved in the Stream Watch Program.

[toolman]

Excellent report Clive. The SW Alberta Streamwatch program is certainly being run by the best. Exceptional dedication and commitment from all involved. What a huge success this project has been.

Congratulations to everyone.

[cdock]

Thanks for the story. That really makes me appreciate even more the work that these gentlemen do every day. How does one get involved in this Stream Watch Program?

[cheeler]

Great report!

 

The streamwatch site is http://www.albertastreamwatch.com/ They're mostly in need of funds or equipment donations for their officers, which included the auction on this site and live auctions during a TU dinner in the spring.

[dryfly]

Thanks for that Cheeler. And thanks to all.

 

cdock...send me an email and I'll email you a PDF flier ..

 

clives AT shaw.ca

 

Stay tuned.

[Harps]

Excellent Clive!

 

I spoke with Jeff a bit in the office this summer, and I have to say, I'm impressed with his effort and very pleased with the results.

We need one to focus south of Hwy 3 and one to focus north.

[Hawgstoppah]

Hey Clive, would you be able to PM me Jeffs contact info? I'll be out there doing 5 days of walk and wades that I donated to streamwatch starting Aug 25th, and would love to meet him for coffee or breakfast or whatever he wants one morning... I'm buying.

[adc]

Hey, glad you got that posted Clive.........We need to start building momentum for our fundraising efforts for 2009...........We need 2 officers in the south in '09 so we need to raise more money!!............I know everyone on the Board will help again and your report shows just how effective the SW program is and how much it's needed!!

 

Al....

[loyaleddie]

Hey, glad you got that posted Clive.........We need to start building momentum for our fundraising efforts for 2009...........We need 2 officers in the south in '09 so we need to raise more money!!............I know everyone on the Board will help again and your report shows just how effective the SW program is and how much it's needed!!

 

Al....

 

Yeah no doubt you will need to raise more money!...When you keep hiring Wilford Brimley as a CO

 

 

 

 

 

[adc]

Yeah no doubt you will need to raise more money!...When you keep hiring Wilford Brimley as a CO

 

 

 

Funny!!!...........The resembelance is amazing!!...............Maybe Wilford has a long lost son..........

[bcubed]

Does the sign before the gap have the regulations on it.? I can't remember if it does

I ask as I landed a fish infront of an angler, and he couldn't believe i released it. He asked me why i released it, and i told him its catch and release only..so i asked him where he was from..calgary.. Maybe a few smaller signs should be put up at the common parking lots that declare the gap is C&R and Bait Ban. Tired of seeing that crap there..

 

Why only a warning on the bait? I'm kind of confused why barbs are enforced, but not bait on a river that has been bait ban for much longer then barbless. Just wondering the reasoning behind this

 

 

 

After being so negative, i have to say that i am glad to see that i was checked there for the first time in my life this year, by that guy earlier in the year. And glad to see the effort being put forward.

Thank you clive and Al for all your hard work

[rusty]

Missed this one the first time around - good post Clive.

[adc]

Does the sign before the gap have the regulations on it.? I can't remember if it does

I ask as I landed a fish infront of an angler, and he couldn't believe i released it. He asked me why i released it, and i told him its catch and release only..so i asked him where he was from..calgary.. Maybe a few smaller signs should be put up at the common parking lots that declare the gap is C&R and Bait Ban. Tired of seeing that crap there..

 

Why only a warning on the bait? I'm kind of confused why barbs are enforced, but not bait on a river that has been bait ban for much longer then barbless. Just wondering the reasoning behind this

After being so negative, i have to say that i am glad to see that i was checked there for the first time in my life this year, by that guy earlier in the year. And glad to see the effort being put forward.

Thank you clive and Al for all your hard work

 

 

I think it's a judgement call, bcube........I got the final report from Jeff for August and he had a situation where it was the opposite---a warning for barbs (2 hooks on a treble pinched and 1 not) and a ticket for bait...........(They were hiding the bait can in the bushes behind them but Jeff saw them from his position).......Jeff has a very mature attitude and good training so I definitely trust his judgement........

 

Al.....

[redline]

It is nice to see some enforcement going on. I fished about 40 days out there this year and did not see one enforcement office but a whole lot of people using barbed treble hooks and them killing fish on the livingstone because of it, it is quite sad.

 

I will be making a donation this year for more officers, it is needed with the mass amount of people fishing out there now.

 

keep up the good work