Trout Unlimited Canada would like to thank
Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) along with the incredible volunteers for making this year’s Alberta Fish Rescue a success. Without the support of the numerous volunteers who came out to help at each of the rescues, we would not have been able to conduct an effort of this scale or impact.
This year marked the 21st year of our Alberta Fish Rescue. This year saw volunteers traveling from Edmonton even Vancouver to lend a hand!
We are grateful to our friends at Fisheries and Oceans Canada for their assistance at Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal (LNHC), and to Calgary’s Connect Charter School for bringing the next generation to help with fish identification. To our long-standing volunteers, thank you for your continued support and to our newer volunteers, thank you for coming out and undoubtedly facing some chilly hands. We hope you’ll be back next year.
Thanks also to Gibson Energy for choosing the Western Headworks Canal Fish Rescue and to Plains Midstream Canada for choosing the LNHC Fish Rescue for their respective corporate workdays!
Crunching the Numbers In October 2019, TUC conducted a fish rescue in four Southern Alberta canals, Western Headworks Canal, Carseland Bow River Headworks Canal, Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal, and Waterton-Belly Diversion Canal. Over 250 volunteers came to help during the nine days of fieldwork. Thanks to all the support, we were able to capture 23,860 fish and release them back into their home waters, with the exception of invasive Prussian Carp.
What did 2019 Reel in? This year, sportfish made up 20% of the total fish rescued. Mountain Whitefish was the most captured sportfish at 8% and 1,877 total fish. Rainbow and Brown Trout comprised 5% and 4% of the catch, respectively. We also rescued one Bull Trout, four Lake Trout and one Cutthroat Trout! The most abundant non-sportfish rescued were the White Sucker and Longnose Sucker respectively at 34% and 17% of total captures. The next most abundant non-sportfish were Longnose Dace (14%) and Trout-Perch (4%).
The Alberta Fish Rescue began in1998. Including this year’s data, the new running total of fish rescued stands at 937,143 fish! Based on recent yearly catches, we may reach a milestone of 1-million fish within the next five years.
Featured Fish The largest fish rescued during the 2019 Alberta Fish Rescue was a Northern Pike that measured a whopping 811mm (>31 inches) rescued from the Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal. The next largest fish was a Lake Trout that measured 662mm which was rescued from the Waterton-Belly Diversion Canal. We also caught a Tiger Trout in the Lethbridge Northern Headworks Canal, only the second time, since 2010, this Brook and Brown Trout hybrid has been captured.
Volunteer Abundance Once again, there was phenomenal interest in volunteering for our Alberta Fish Rescue events, with 281 volunteers contributing nearly 2000 hours of volunteer effort!
TUC hopes that everyone who volunteered had a good experience. We couldn’t have done it without you! With winter coming, we hope you’ll be practicing your fish identification, Power On/Off hand signals and warming those chilly hands for next year. Thanks again for all the support.
The table below shows the species composition of fish captured from each canal during the 2019 Alberta Fish Rescue. Species totals also include the fish captured at supplemental sites.
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